Legend of the Goddesses
by Supa Supa Bad Truly Mad Moves
Summary: Celestia and Luna weren't always the mighty princesses they are now. They have a story, and they're not the only ones. Meet the Four-Winged Queen, the Titaness of the Whispering Desert, and other illustrious names in this epic journey around the world and through time... a journey into the hearts and minds of goddesses.
1. Prologue

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

_The goddesses_, says a voice, a painfully mundane and ordinary adult male voice. _A story that maybe isn't told enough. I… well, I've come to realize we've forgotten what they really went through. It's become harder for us to place ourselves in their hooves, know what I mean? But… maybe it's time for that to change. There are places in the past that I've discovered, where you can really see what was inside the goddesses' hearts._

_The goddesses,_ says another voice, rasping and echoing, rumbling like a force of nature older than the earth itself. _Things came together so perfectly for them. In fact, I think you'll find that things always come together perfectly. I've spent a thousand lifetimes studying this story, immersing myself in it…_

_Let me take you there,_ both voices say together.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sea of Stars, 333 years ago

Song Li walked across the surface of the night sky. Her vaguely equine form was encased in a suit of armor that hid almost every detail of her appearance and made not a whisper of sound as she walked.

From behind her mask, she stared into the vortex. It led to a world that was completely alien to her: solid earth, green trees, a sky with a gorgeous golden sun that hid the stars and turned the sky a pale blue. She was apprehensive, but certain that this was where she had to go.

"So… where are you going, exactly?" she heard someone ask her.

"Someplace I might be needed," Song Li replied softly. "Or, if fate is willing, maybe even… wanted."

And with that, she stepped through the portal.

Mooneye Lagoon, 735 years ago

The tiny frame of a gangly adolescent okapi squeezed through a fresh crack in the tan stone wall of the cave. She heaved and coughed, her breathing ragged, but she wore a savage grin: she was finally free.

Young Kopé ignored the sight of the lush tropical paradise that was her home, even though it was particularly beautiful tonight under the full moon. She staggered as quickly as she could toward the gently flowing waterfall that fed the lagoon.

She placed her face under the falls, and water touched her lips for the first time in weeks. She prepared herself to lose her mind in the ecstasy of drinking her fill, but she reminded herself of something more important.

Kopé turned her head toward the bright blue animal who was unconscious on her back. "Ngala," she whispered, brushing the creature and cradling it in one of her front hooves. "Water, Ngala. Wake up." She placed the feathery creature under the waterfall. In a few seconds, it was wide awake and hopped up onto Kopé's head, stretching its neck out toward the waterfall to drink voraciously.

Satisfied, Kopé continued drinking, water pouring into her empty stomach. She was so blissful that she failed to notice the white-blue light that had begun to bathe the lagoon, light that was growing and expanding within the inside of her heart.

Clovenshire, 1,003 years ago

Princess Celestia furiously paced back and forth on the stone streets of Clovenshire, Equestria's capitol city. Highly agitated from the cold and the dark that had lasted for several weeks, she snorted and tossed her head, trying to get her flowing pink mane out of her eyes.

"Look," she said coldly. "I know that Princess Luna is your friend. I understand that you want to protect her. That's admirable… or something. But the pony you're protecting now, it's not Princess Luna anymore! She's a twisted and insane… thing… who's going to destroy the world if she's not stopped soon. And I'm the only one who can stop her. So…"

She picked up the pony she was addressing, a pale turquoise pegasus, in her two front hooves and slammed her against the wall of a building with enough force to crack the stone. "TELL ME WHERE SHE IS, SNOWDROP!" Celestia bellowed in a reverberating voice, her enraged eyes glowing yellow. "Or I swear, the pain and suffering you will endure will be the greatest and most memorable accomplishment of my life."

Clovenshire, 1,012 years ago

Two impossibly elderly and feeble ponies with wings and horns, one pink and one blue, doddered across the colorful and shifting landscape of the chaotic realm of Equestria. They arrived at the heavy black iron gates of what had once been the castle of Clovenshire, now an immense spiky black tower with red light coming out of each window.

"Here we are," Celestia croaked. She tapped the gates with her horn, and they creaked open. They crept in, slowly, well aware that they were out in the open.

"Prepare yourself," Celestia said. Luna nodded and opened her saddlebag; the six Elements of Harmony flew out of the bag and began orbiting at different speeds around both of the sisters.

The center of the orbit was not one sister or the other, but the spot directly between the two of them. Well aware of this, they briefly bared their teeth, snarling at each other, but continued purposefully toward the castle.

There was a clap of thunder, a sheet of lightning that cast light of red-and-blue plaid over the scenery. From high above them and greatly amplified, the two old mares heard a dark chuckle.

"Oh," said the voice with mild derision, "now that's not going to be any fun at all."

There was a loud _crack_. Celestia flinched, then noticed that her mane was now slowly floating around her as it had when she was young… in fact, she and Luna _were_ young, as upright and vibrant as they had been the day they had discovered the Elements.

"Luna," Discord whispered in her ear.

Luna gasped and turned her head, briefly catching a glimpse of Discord before he vanished, then reappeared with his face shoved into Celestia's, caressing her chin with his eagle talon.

"Celessssstia," he drawled, savoring her name and the physical contact. He disappeared again, and his voice boomed from high above.

"_Do you two like games?_"

Whispering Desert, 1,077 years ago

Kolassa awakened, realizing that the crushing weight of her own body had caused her to black out briefly. Her eyes closed, she mentally examined herself, relieved to discover that she was at least still _shaped_ like an ordinary earth pony mare.

She opened her eyes and glanced at the three ancient sandstone pyramids behind her, the same three pyramids that made up her cutie mark. The pyramids had inspired a sense of awe in her the first time she saw them. Now she wanted to get as far away from them as possible.

She looked away from the pyramids, and spotted her: the giant white bird, cockily walking away through the sand, clumsy on her large talons. The bird was about fifty feet tall with a wingspan at least thrice that number. To Kolassa, those statistics now seemed puny and fragile.

She placed her hooves on the sand and groaned as she began to heave herself up into a standing position. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that the very fact that she was alive was impossible, never mind the idea that she could stand, but truthfully she knew that what she had been through made perfect sense. She stretched and moaned, briefly eyeing her hooves and pondering the fact that they were made out of sand.

Overcome by curiosity, she glanced back at the pyramids again, just to see how tall they were compared to her when she was standing. She was a bit comforted to see that the pyramids were taller. "Right," she muttered to herself. She began to stride purposefully away from the pyramids in pursuit of her enemy, the white bird, her every step shaking the ground.

The bird turned around and craned her neck up at Kolassa, her toothy beak gaping in disbelief. "No," she breathed. "No! How is that even possible?" She then screamed in surprise as something appeared in front of her face: a single huge red eye above a broad, grinning mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" the one-eyed creature said smugly. "This is Kolassa's universe. The rest of us just live here."

Ribbondale, 1,382 years ago

"NO!" Luna screamed, collapsing to the floor of the barn. She clawed at the dirt floor with her hooves. "Cousin? Cousin, where are you? No… no… NO!"

She hung her head and sobbed. "Oh, cousin," she choked out. "Why? Why would you do that?" The tears that fell from her eyes into the dirt were silvery and glowed like the light of the moon, or like the silver aura that surrounded Luna at all times.

"And what did _I_ just do to you?" she whispered.

Luna looked around the barn desperately, and spotted something that made her blood run cold: the shadow of a pony on the barn's wall, with nopony there to cast it.

"Luna?" the shadow said uncertainly.

"Lara?" Luna gasped.

The shadow spread out its wings and held up its hooves, examining itself. "What… what happened to me?" it whispered. Its eyes, huge red disks, turned toward Luna. "What did you do to me, Luna?"

"I… I don't know…" Luna admitted fearfully. "Lara… cousin… I don't…"

"What have you done, cousin? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

The shadow opened its jaws, a mouth filled with glimmering, tiny white teeth like needles. With a ghastly scream, the shadow leapt off the wall and shot straight toward Luna.

Crags of Okeanos, 2,118 years ago

The young, pale green seapony screeched in agony. The powerful ocean currents found in these deep-sea canyons and tunnels had blown her straight into the path of a volcanic vent. Her skin blistered and tore; her hooves and her powerful tail had already been disintegrated down to the bone.

The words of her father echoed in her mind. "_You're going to be something very special, Soledad. I've always known that._"

She slammed her eyelids together tightly, but the fluid in her eyes had already begun to boil. "I'm sorry, Daddy," she said silently.

Three seconds after she came into the path of the column of unearthly heat, Princess Soledad was reduced to a blackened skeleton.

Tartaros, 99,946 years ago

Discord inhaled deeply, then proceeded to walk down the slope of the lightless, earthy cavern. He stumbled a bit on his mismatched legs; as much as he enjoyed it, he was still not at all used to the asymmetry of his new body.

"Mother?" he called into the blackness. "Mother, look at me."

The enormous dark shape deep within the cavern turned toward him.

"Look, Mother," he said, spreading his arms out and grinning broadly. "I'm Discord now!" He wiggled his fingers, and images of stars and planets swirled around behind him dramatically. "We don't have to confine ourselves to _their_ reality anymore! Reality is whatever _I_ say it is!"

He wrung his paw and talon together nervously, gazing up at the dark shape hopefully. "Things can change for us now, Mother, you see? We can leave. We can accomplish things together, like you said." He held up his paw triumphantly. "For I am now the purest embodiment of chaos!"

The thing in the blackness responded with a furious scream. Tendrils of smoke raced toward Discord too fast for him to prepare himself, followed closely by the gigantic shadowy thing itself.

In his crippling terror, all Discord could manage to say was "Ohhhhh no."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

_But these are just some of the highlights,_ the first voice says to you.

_A few defining moments… catalysts of where it all began…_ the ancient voice says, mostly to itself.

_Sure, there's a lot of pain, but if you dig a little deeper there's a lot of joy too. Each goddess stands for a different thing, has a different secret hidden in her heart… and I love each one of them in a different way._

_Moments of strength… moments of weakness… a life examined, especially that of a goddess, holds many hidden truths._

_But really, when you get down to the true emotions each of us feels, we're all the same. You know? So, um…_

_There is much that remains to be seen. I intend to reexamine the tale one last time._

_Shall we continue?_ the voices say in unison.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

**Author's Notes**

**Disclaimer:** Recognizable _My Little Pony_ characters and locations are the property of Hasbro… and among this story's world-spanning scope and cast of thousands, recognizable characters and locations number maybe five apiece, just as a heads-up. Snowdrop is the property of Silly Filly Studios, used without permission but hopefully with the utmost respect. Please don't hate me.

Welcome to _Legend of the Goddesses_, dear reader. This is a companion piece to my long-running story _Romance and the Fate of Equestria_. This is a story meant to detail the pasts of that story's version of Celestia, Luna, Discord, and numerous OCs who, after 68 chapters and over 145,000 words, haven't even appeared in _Romance_ yet.

Now, the stories are designed in such a way that they can be enjoyed no matter which you read first, or how far you've gotten into _Romance_ before you start _Legend_, or even if you only read one or the other. Either way, both stories are sure to be full of surprises.

_Romance_ was started at the very end of season 2, so I've largely disregarded everything that's happened on the show since then. For example, in _Romance_ it becomes clear pretty quickly that there is no Crystal Empire… therefore, I saw no problem with completely removing King Sombra from this timeline. However, that's not to say later elements are completely ignored… one particular scene in this story does owe its existence to the Comic-Con season 4 preview. I think you know which scene in the preview I'm talking about.

_EDIT: It is now a month after publication, the day of the backstory-heavy Season 4 premiere. The story is currently on Chapter 15, but I'd like to point out that I actually planned out all the way to the end long before now. I just want you to keep that in mind as you read, now that the story is even more obsolete than it was before. Thanks!_

I'm telling you all of this now instead of then because I believe that this story requires total and complete immersion, and therefore, starting right now, there will be no Author's Notes in the entire story. If you know me, you'll appreciate that. Heh heh. Enjoy it.

Here we go then… take this journey with me, dear reader. Let us proceed.


	2. Ribbondale 1402ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Ribbondale, 1,402 years ago

Far in the east of the continent that would someday be encompassed by the nation of Equestria, hidden in a deep valley of lush green forests, was the ancient city of Ribbondale.

The city didn't dominate the wilderness over which it had been built. It was built to coexist with the wild lands, each house customized to fit in perfectly with nature: some houses on stilts of differing lengths to keep them level upon the sloped ground, some with holes in the roofs for the trees in the floor to grow out of. Many of the homes were shades of healthy green to match the forest, lined with black iron and with magnificent spires and winding spiral staircases on even the smallest of dwellings.

This city was home to the immortals. Sometimes called alicorns, they were the rarest and most powerful subset of the pony species. They were plentiful here; in fact, every inhabitant of the city was of this majestic race. Each had a horn longer than that of any unicorn, wings more impressive than any pegasus could hope for.

Most breathtaking was that each had a magical aura that surrounded their bodies at all times, an aura tied to the nature of their cutie mark. One's body might crackle with rainbow-colored lightning with every flap of their wings; another immortal might shimmer like a gemstone, or exude smoke bearing the intoxicating scent of apples.

On average, an immortal was only slightly taller than any other kind of pony, but a decent percentage of the population towered over their neighbors with their long and powerful legs and graceful necks. One such pony walked along the stepping stones of the valley toward its center. Tempest was her name, and she had crystalline blue eyes and a deep blue coat. Her cutie mark was a hurricane, and she was surrounded at all times by a swirling whirlwind that whipped her long stormy-gray mane and tail around rapidly.

"Sister!" Tempest called, raising a hoof in greeting.

Tempest's sister was just as tall as she, with earthy-brown fur, almond-shaped spring-green eyes, and a mane and tail of the same green. Her mane was tied into a bun and decorated with chopsticks. Her cutie mark was the planet, all its oceans, forests, deserts, and plains clearly defined… and everywhere she went, flowers, grass, and clouds of pollen appeared out of nowhere and floated around. Her name was Gaia.

The sisters greeted each other with a gentle tap of the tips of their horns. "Well met, Tempest," Gaia said softly.

"Likewise, dear sister," Tempest said with a graceful nod. "Did you bring—?"

Tempest's question was answered when a small filly peered out from behind Gaia's legs, a filly with a periwinkle coat, pale blue mane, and dark teal eyes.

From behind Tempest, with an uncannily similar posture and expression, came another filly, this one bright pink, red-haired and green-eyed.

"Lara!" the blue filly squeaked happily.

"Lulu!" the pink one shrieked back.

The two of them raced out from behind their mothers and embraced, jumping up and down in unison. They turned around and began to run toward the center of the valley, but Tempest held them back.

"Hold on there," she said to her daughter. "Greet your aunt before you go running off with your cousin."

"Hello, Aunt Gaia," the pink filly said sweetly.

"Good morning, Annihilara," Gaia said, nodding back to her with a smile.

"Come on, Lara, let's go!" Luna cried. The fillies darted off.

In the center of the valley was an open area dotted with picnic tables of glass and iron. Above this area, another filly was flying around. Older and taller than Luna and Annihilara, this one was uniformly pink: her coat, her mane, her eyes. Unlike her sister and cousin, she had a cutie mark, a great golden sun, though she was still too young to possess a constant aura.

Celestia swooped down upon a table, coming in between two fillies her own age: Ragnarok, pale gray with a wavy blue-and-white mane and pink eyes, and Xanadu, dusty black, orange-eyed, and her straight orange mane and tail decorated with green and black beads.

"Hello, girls!" she said brightly.

"There you are, Tia," Ragnarok said with smirk. She made to smack Celestia in the head, and Celestia blocked with her forearm. They both laughed.

"Oh, girls," said Celestia, "take a look at what I found."

She turned and displayed her cutie mark to them.

"Ooooooh!" they exclaimed together. In their excitement, their developing auras were displayed: Ragnarok's body surged with tiny pink bolts of electricity from her cutie mark, itself a pink lightning bolt. Xanadu's mark was a dark green diamond of light, and the air around her began crackling and snapping with similar sparks.

"Impressive, Tia," said Ragnarok with a smirk. "_Very_ impressive… I was worried about you for a while, but you've done it."

"Look at your mane!" Xanadu exclaimed, her eyes widening.

Celestia's pink mane and tail were still fairly short, but were flowing and floating as if she was underwater.

"How'd that happen?" Ragnarok asked, trying to sound dismissive.

"I think it comes with the cutie mark," Celestia said, shrugging. "If you like that, you should see my aura."

She squinted hard, her horn glowing yellow for a moment, then her entire silhouette started burning with golden light, her outline shining like the sun. She could only maintain it for a few seconds; afterwards, she looked exhausted but very smug.

"Wow," Xanadu breathed. "But what does it all mean? Are you going to have power over the sun?"

Celestia wrapped an arm around Xanadu's shoulders and leaned toward her confidentially. "Xanadu… you're an imbecile."

Xanadu thrust her nose in the air snootily. "No I'm not!" she said. "I'm just ditzy."

"Is that what Ragnarok told you?" Celestia said in amusement. "You can't sugarcoat things like that for her, Ragnarok. You have to be honest."

She backed away, slouching cockily in her seat. "Anyway, no. The sun represents leadership and wisdom. You know what that means? I'm going to rule this whole town someday!" She spread her front hooves and tiny wings triumphantly.

Her broad grin faded at the sound of a tiny voice. "Celestia! Celestia!"

"Oh, boy," Celestia muttered. "Somepony sound the alarm bells; Ribbondale is being invaded by twerps."

Luna galloped down the slope and hopped up onto the seat next to Celestia, closely followed by a casually trotting Annihilara.

"Hellooooo, Celestia," Luna sang.

"It's Tia," Celestia said shortly. "_Tia_."

"Really?" Luna mocked. "Because I'm pretty sure your name is Celestia. That's what Mother named you."

"Well, Mother doesn't know everything," Celestia said, sliding off the seat. "I'm feeling like a trip up into the canopy. Xanadu, go fetch some snacks and meet us there."

Xanadu looked confused for a moment. Celestia glared at her harshly, and she squeaked in fear and flew away.

Ragnarok trotted after Celestia. "You can't order Xanadu around, Tia. That's _my_ job."

"Well, I think I've received a promotion," Celestia said, tapping her cutie mark. "Oh, don't be scared that your 'authority' is slipping. We'll order Xanadu around together."

"Lulu," Annihilara whispered. "Come on, cousin, let's play together, just us."

"I know, but I want to spend time with my sister," Luna whispered back. She raised her voice. "Wait for us, sister!"

From higher up, on the cobblestone paths lines with short iron fences, Gaia and Tempest watched the scene unfold.

"It seems my Luna and your Lara are inseparable," said Gaia.

"Cousins should be friends," Tempest said simply.

"Yes… yes, I suppose…" Gaia muttered. "I… I only think that _sisters_ should be friends as well, my sister." She touched Tempest's hoof with her own. "Look at them… Luna _worships_ Celestia. But Celestia will have nothing to do with her."

Down below, Luna was racing after Celestia as fast as she could. Celestia took to the air in an attempt to escape, but was too slow and weak of a flyer and soon drifted back down to the ground, Luna right behind her.

"Were we so different?" Tempest said comfortingly.

"I know," Gaia said, rubbing her temple with a hoof. "But they were so close to outgrowing that dynamic. I thought they would, that they would achieve a healthier relationship, but they've slipped back into… this."

"Well," Tempest said delicately, "in their defense… their father just left them. That can be an extreme blow to a young filly's psyche. It's only natural for them to regress a bit."

"Yes, I know that," Gaia fretted. "I just… I fear for their future."

"Of course you do," said Tempest. "They're your daughters. But on the subject of their father… how are _you_ handling it?"

"Oh… well… it wasn't as much of a blow as you might think," Gaia said absently. "I know it surprised everypony outside the household, but in truth, Helium had been growing distant from the girls and I for years."

"That doesn't answer my question, Gaia," Tempest said softly. "How are you?"

"You know the answer to that, Tempest. I'm a mother. I'm only as happy or unhappy as my children… and they're in a very bad place. Celestia is self-righteous and full of herself, Luna is blindly obsessed with being just like her sister. I know that's normal for their age, but I can't shake the feeling that they won't ever outgrow it."

Tempest nuzzled her sister's face with her own. "They'll be fine, sister. They're tough little fillies."

"Yes," Gaia said bitterly. "Tough enough to hide how they truly feel. But feelings are just as important as strength, we all know this. My fear is that they'll stay the way they are now, shielding their hearts and denying their true selves, even when they're older… maybe forever."


	3. deep southern jungle 737ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

deep southern jungle, 737 years ago

Sunlight filtered through the darkest greenery of the jungle. From underneath a bush, a pair of wide yellow eyes glanced around. Satisfied that it would be safe to move around in the open, Kopé crept out onto the forest floor.

She was about the size and shape of a young pony filly, but was in fact an okapi. She was mostly dark brown, with white stripes on her legs and face. A pair of tiny black horns sat upon her head, and her snout was a bit longer and sharper than a pony's. Beyond that, there was very little to distinguish her.

"We're clear," she whispered. "Come to me, Ngala."

Kopé's only friend began crawling down the trunk of a tree. Ngala had the overall appearance of a small lizard with a mouthful of sharp teeth, but was covered in vibrant blue feathers instead of scales. Her long and stiff tail ended in a fan of feathers; her arms and legs ended in scaly black claws, and most striking, all four limbs were also winged.

"There's my girl," Kopé said lovingly. She held out a hoof. "Come here."

Ngala fluttered over and perched on Kopé's arm.

"We'll have to find a new home soon, Ngala," Kopé muttered. "Oh, I know, there's no need to move when we still have such an abundance of food, and more safety and security than we've ever enjoyed before, but… agh, a creature can only live in one place for so long before her mind starts to fall apart." She rubbed her nose against Ngala's beak. "We'll have many adventures as we search for a new safe haven, I'm sure of it."

Ngala chirped and warbled, making her way from Kopé's arm to the top of her head. Kopé started walking out into the rainforest with a chipper smile on her face.

She had only been walking for a few seconds when she heard a rustling in a bush. Before she had even consciously registered the sound, she pounced upon the bush and pulled its branches aside.

Her threatening expression quickly turned into delight when she saw the bush's occupant, even though she didn't quite understand what she was looking at. It appeared to be a pony… a pony who stood barely six inches tall. He was a white stallion with a short and spiky silver mane and pale blue eyes. He had a unicorn horn as well as a pair of insectlike wings which were red, lined in purple, and each with a single bright blue eyespot. On his front left hoof, he wore a chain bracelet, its only charm a comparatively large, rectangular sapphire. This tiny pony cowered in fear at the sight of Kopé.

"Oh, hello!" she said with wonder. "I'm Kopé. What's your name?"

"Um… Fork," he said nervously.

She looked him over curiously. "What are you?"

"I'm… I'm a pixie pony," he said, his panic escalating.

"It's been so long since I met anyone in this jungle!" Kopé said eagerly. "What are you doing out here?"

Fork continued staring at her in fear, then turned around and flew off at breakneck speed.

"No! Wait!" Kopé called.

She raced after the tiny pixie, catching occasional glimpses of him through the trees.

"Please don't fly away!" she cried frantically. "I just wanted to talk to you! I _need_ to! I need to talk to—"

She collided with something and fell to the ground. Ngala hopped off of her and onto a nearby tree.

"…someone," Kopé said feebly. "Anyone. Anyone who'll talk back…"

She looked up indignantly at what she had crashed into and gasped in shock. It was another pony, a full-sized unicorn stallion. He had an orange coat, a black mane with a dark blue streak, and wore a long leather robe. He had gray eyes—not only were his irises gray, but there was a gray spot in the center of each pupil—which stared down at Kopé in surprise.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked in a soft, deep voice.

Kopé looked around the pony. She saw Fork disappear into another bush. Her instincts told her that if he had _truly_ been fleeing her at his top speed, he would not still be in sight. He was lingering for some reason.

"Oh… no one," she muttered. She looked up at the unicorn plaintively. "Can I talk to _you?_"

"Yes, I suppose you can," he said thoughtfully. "I admit that when I heard yelling, I thought I might find somepony civilized in this jungle… clearly, that's not what happened; I've only stumbled upon one of the savage natives. You're an okapi, aren't you?"

He had pronounced the name of her species with the emphasis on the first syllable. "Um… actually, I'm an 'o-_KA_-pi'," she muttered.

"A pre-adolescent female," the unicorn noted, rubbing his chin. "With horns, a trait usually reserved for adult males. That can't make you very alluring to your fellow _o_kapi…"

"O_ka_pi," she corrected again. "And I'll be honest… I've never really thought about my 'allure'. It's just not a part of my life."

"Is that right?" the unicorn whispered, leaning down toward her. "And what kind of life might that be?"

Kopé inhaled deeply and, for the first time, spoke words that had weighed her down for years: "My village was ravaged by disease. I ran away before I caught it. The village is empty now. I've been alone for… a very long time. Since I was eight years old. I think now I'm… twelve?"

The unicorn's eyes had glazed over. When he realized she had stopped talking, he jumped in surprise. "Oh… is that so?"

Kopé stared at him, starry-eyed. "You don't know how amazing it is to hear another voice besides my own. I have Ngala, of course, but she doesn't say much…"

She pointed to Ngala, where she still hung on the tree trunk. The unicorn's eyes widened, noticing the animal for the first time. "Is… is that a microraptor?"

"Um… maybe?" Kopé said sheepishly. Though she knew it didn't matter, she had never known what exactly Ngala was.

Ngala hopped over to Kopé's shoulder and hissed violently at the stranger. "Ngala!" Kopé exclaimed. "Don't do that. What's he ever done to you?"

Ngala calmed, but shot a meaningful glance at Kopé.

The stranger's horn glowed blue; from the depths of his robe, he produced a map and a pair of glasses. He scanned the map briefly, then pocketed the objects. "All right then… come with me." He walked past her.

"What?" Kopé said blankly.

"Come… with… me," he enunciated. "You've survived in this jungle as a child, you must be smarter than you look. I may or may not find use for you. Come with me."

"O-okay," Kopé stammered, but putting on an eager face. She followed him, a jovial spring in her step.

He didn't speak again, or even look at her—he just walked, straight as an arrow, through the jungle.

"What's your name?" Kopé asked.

"I'm called Bogglesby," he said. "Bogglesby the Scholar."

"Okay," she giggled. "I'm Kopé."

He smirked at her with derision. "Did I ask?"

"Um… no," she peeped.

There were a few more seconds of silence.

"So where are we going?" she asked.

"That's for me to know," Bogglesby said shortly. "You will stay out of my way, you will speak only when spoken to, you will do as I say. If you have a problem with that, feel free to return to whatever it is you were doing before. Is that understood?"

"…Y-yes?"

"Good."

Kopé trailed behind him a bit. She glanced at the bush where she had seen Fork disappear, then shrugged and pursued Bogglesby, much of her enthusiasm lost. Ngala chattered at her angrily.

"I know," she whispered. "I know, I know, we finally meet someone in the jungle and he's… pretty much horrible… but he's here. He wants me with him. He _speaks_ to me, Ngala." She turned to her companion with teary eyes. "I can't live like I did before, without voices. I just can't take another minute of silence."

She stared after Bogglesby uncertainly. "He'll warm up to us," she said uncertainly. "He must. …Right?"


	4. western pine forests 1088ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

western pine forests, 1,088 years ago

A storm swirled around the towering pines. Once, the needles shone in different shades of green, darks and lights, tinted with blues and grays, with bark in shades of brown and red, but now the entire forest was blanketed in frost, not a shred of color showing through.

Two earth ponies trudged through the snow, wrapped in thick coats and blankets and laden with packs of their possessions.

One of them was a beautiful blue mare with a braided blond mane and pale yellow eyes. Her cutie mark was a winding river; her name, Rhea Strait. The stallion was Chronus Twister, gray-coated, his mane shaved off but with a scruffy brown tail, and vibrant purple eyes. His cutie mark was an empty hourglass.

"C-Chronus," Rhea stammered through the cold. "We should turn back. This isn't going to work!"

"We cannot!" Chronus declared. "This is our best hope to escape this dreaded plague of ice. You know this!"

"Can we be so sure?" Rhea urged. "Chancellor Puddinghead is searching for a new land, a new earth pony nation. Can't we see what she discovers before we do anything so rash?"

"No," Chronus growled. "If that scatterbrained chancellor chooses to solve this problem by going east, it's in our best interests to go in the exact _opposite_ direction!"

"She's not so incompetent as to lead us to our doom!" said Rhea.

"Perhaps not… but I heard rumors that the unicorn princess and pegasus general are searching in the same direction," said Chronus. "And like the chancellor, their hearts are full of hate. The storm will follow them."

"What difference does that make?" Rhea demanded.

"Rhea," Chronus said patiently, "our little daughter has told us of the malevolent horse spirits who brought this dark time upon us. She's seen them in her dreams, and she knows that they feed on hearts full of hate."

Rhea was silent for a moment. "If the storm is following our leaders, wouldn't it serve us just as well to stay in our own country?"

"No," Chronus said. "As long as the three pony races hate each other, the storm will linger there as well."

"And what's stopping the storm from following _us_?" Rhea challenged.

Chronus turned to his wife and looked deeply into her eyes. "Rhea, my love… the ice spirits consume hate. I carry no hate in my heart. Do you?"

Rhea blinked. "I… you've convinced me. Your course is the correct one." She chuckled. "I've always known your love would be the death of me, Chronus Twister."

They stopped walking to kiss each other briefly.

"On top of which…" Chronus muttered. "Staying at our former home wouldn't rid us of our other problem. Leaving that place behind might be the only way to escape the _other_ thing that haunts Kolassa's sleep."

Rhea blinked. "Where _is_ our daughter?"

They turned around. Their hoof tracks through the snow were almost being filled in by the snow. They frantically galloped down their path, calling out their daughter's name. "Kolassa? Kolassa!"

It was only a short run through the snow before they found her, an unusually diminutive filly hopping from one hoofprint to another. Her parents came upon her and hugged her tightly.

"Kolassa, are you okay?" Rhea breathed.

"Yes," she chirped.

"Don't fall behind like that again, honey," Chronus said sternly. "In all this snow, you could get lost far too easily."

She looked down at her hooves in shame. "I'm sorry, Father."

Chronus' face softened. "It's all right, Kolassa. Just don't make us worry like that. Let's keep walking."

Kolassa kept pace now, standing between her parents. She was seven years old, and a pinkish-purple color. Her mane was ratty and tattered, bright red with a zig-zagging orange stripe. Due to her young age, her baby-blue eyes were huge and wide.

"Where are we going?" Kolassa asked.

"Well, if we keep going west," Chronus said, "we'll—"

"Oh my," Rhea breathed.

The three of them stopped in their tracks, for the forest had suddenly… ended. Behind them were the frosted pines of the west, but ahead of them, what could only be described as nothingness. A flat surface, smooth as glass, without a single imperfection, none of the up-and-down slopes of natural ground. This area was perfectly circular, and many miles in diameter, though the three ponies couldn't perceive this detail: to them, it simply looked like the world suddenly ended.

"What… what is this place?" Kolassa whispered. "It's nothing…"

"It's called the Matrix," Chronus said solemnly. "Come along, my dears."

He stepped out onto the smooth surface, his gray-tinted reflection beneath him. Rhea urged Kolassa along, then followed herself. They quickly discovered it was warm within this area; though the cloudy sky remained above, no snow fell upon the Matrix, even though it raged mere feet behind them.

"It's warm!" Kolassa remarked joyfully. "Have I ever been warm before?"

"Oh, sure you have," Rhea said gently. "Many years ago, before the blizzards came… you don't even remember the time before the cold?"

"I guess not," Kolassa muttered.

"Yes, even the snow knows better than to come here," Chronus said, looking up at the sky as he walked. "We won't be menaced by any animals or creatures, no elements or obstacles… there is _nothing_ here. We, as thinking beings, aren't smart enough to know to stay the hell away, too evolved to know how unnatural it is. We'll be perfectly safe. We'll make our straight shot to the west at an excellent pace as long as our path takes us through the Matrix."

"Oh, I'm not 'too evolved' to know that this shouldn't be here," said Rhea with a shiver. "The sooner we get to the other side, the better."

"Father?" said Kolassa.

"Yes, my dear?"

"Where do we go after we get to the other side?" Kolassa asked. "I mean, where do we… end up? At the… the end? Where do we end up at the end?"

"Well, here's my plan," Chronus said jovially, ruffling his daughter's mane. "On the west coast, we'll find the ports where the merchants from the Whispering Desert come in to trade with the pony nations. Everything we have left, we'll use to buy passage onto one of their ships. In their country, we'll find a new life in a village just like ours." He kissed the top of Kolassa's head. "How does that sound?"

"It sounds great," Kolassa breathed. "And there are no monsters there, right? No more wind spirits freezing our hearts? No more monsters in my room?"

Chronus paused for a second, not knowing how to answer. Rhea caught up and patted Kolassa's head comfortingly.

"That's right," she said. "They won't be able to find you anymore."


	5. Campus Cuda 2118ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Campus Cuda, 2,118 years ago

Far beneath the oceans of the world lived the seaponies: colorful creatures whose front halves were indistinguishable from those of ponies, but whose hindquarters were long and muscular finned tails that swept up and down to propel their bodies forward.

To their land-dwelling cousins, seaponies were objects of fascination and mystique. They were celebrated in art, often depicted living in beautiful kingdoms made of pure gold that came looming out of the ocean murk accompanied by beautiful haunting melodies.

This was very far from the truth.

Seapony communities consisted of tiny homes carved out of stone and coral, but carved so very poorly. Some of the streets were littered with seaponies too weak to swim, swollen and decaying with sickness. Even in the castle town of Campus Cuda, the bustling market was full of the homeless and sick, and the castle itself could barely be called such: a spiraled, sickly-white coral structure no larger or better guarded than the meanest definition of a mansion.

Within the throne room of Campus Cuda's castle, the king swam in circles near the ceiling, around and around his ivory chandelier. King Nimo was a large, dark green seapony with a deeply lined face and slanted yellow eyes. Marking him as king was his magnificent headdress; a golden crown with six curved red teeth that extended from the sides of his head, and two long and downward-swept orange horns on either side of a single forward-facing brown crest.

"Soledad, it's time you stopped denying your destiny," King Nimo said. His cultured voice had gone weak with age. "You're of the age that you must face it."

The king's daughter rested on the floor of the throne room, and flinched at his words. Soledad was a teenaged filly of a seafoam green, green-eyed and with a short, very curly mane of pink and purple.

"You will be queen," Nimo stated plainly. "Queen of a race that looks to their ruler to dictate every aspect of their lives, a species plagued with sickness and misfortune. No ruler has been able to change the truth of the seaponies' plight, but you must be up to the task of lifting their spirits."

"I can't, Daddy," Soledad spat viciously. "The seaponies deserve a queen who is wise and intelligent… who is healthy… and beautiful. I'm none of these things."

"You sell yourself short."

"But I don't!" Soledad snapped. "Look at me! Look at everything you've seen of me since I was born! I'm as sickly and weak as a beggar you find dead in the gutter. I'm too dull of mind to master the simplest of tasks. I don't have the common sense and charisma that grace a squid! Everything I've ever said or done has met with failure! And I'm ugly. When I look in the mirror and realize that others have to look upon me, it makes me want to cry. If I became queen… I would be hated."

"Och, aye, ye're right," came a thickly accented voice from the throne room's entrance. "All very real problems, me friend. Ye know what else is wrong with ye? Ye know what's the worst out o' all those? Ye prattle on an' on about flaws that ye don't actually have! It's maddenin'!"

These words came from a filly Soledad's age who had jetted into the throne room and pounced upon Soledad with a tight hug. She was bright red, with brown eyes and silky black hair that possessed more volume than her entire body, and floated and whipped around her in every possible direction with her every movement.

"Hi, Jolly," Soledad said exhaustedly through the hug.

The king floated down toward the floor, frowning. "Jolly, how did you get in here?"

"Ha!" Jolly barked. "The better question is, what made ye think ye could ever keep me out?"

"Well, tell me," the king insisted. "What did you do? Did you bribe the guards?"

"Bribe them?" Jolly repeated. "Nay, there's no need for that. They just like me a whole lot more than they like you, Yer Majesty."

The king seemed to actually find that amusing, and Jolly took the moment to mutter to Soledad under her breath, "If ye were as ugly and charisma-free as ye claim, ye wouldn't have yer well-earned reputation fer sleepin' around, now would ye?"

"Would you stop that?" Soledad laughed, smacking her friend lightly. "My dad is right there."

"Now, Soledad," the king said gently, "you can learn quite a bit from your friend Jolly here. To have others perceive you as worthy, one must first gain a positive perception of oneself. Your self-image is projected outwardly; everypony likes Jolly because she projects confidence and comfort within herself."

"Well, then maybe Jolly should be the queen," Soledad retorted.

"That is not her birthright," said Nimo in amusement. "Nor would it be fair to place such a burden upon her. It is _your_ right and responsibility, Princess Soledad, and you must be prepared to take up my mantle at a moment's notice."

"And I'll be here by yer side, me friend," Jolly added. "Just as I always have."

Soledad backed away from them, shaking her head. "I… I'm just not _right_ for it. The pony I am can't be queen."

"Then it's time ta build yerself inta somethin' new," Jolly said solemnly. "I'll help ye, every step o' the way."

"I just… really need to think about this," Soledad pleaded. "May I be dismissed? I wish to go to my chambers… alone."

King Nimo nodded. "You may go. Just one last thing… You're going to be something very special, Soledad. I've always known that."

Jolly nodded solemnly as Soledad swam away.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Soledad rested on the balcony of her bedroom, on the castle's top floor. The outside of the top floor wasn't really a private place underwater, any more than it would be if one's neighbors could fly, but most citizens gave this balcony a wide berth, knowing better than to disturb the princess.

Soledad's eyes travelled around the city below her and the ocean above, then directly to her own balcony railing, where a small creature stood.

"Agh!" Soledad exclaimed.

"WAUGH!" the creature shouted, jumping backward. There he was, a diminutive version of a land-dwelling pony, white-furred and silver-haired, with colorful wings and a sapphire on his bracelet. He was encased in a large bubble.

"Who… are you?" Soledad stammered.

He gulped and gave the exact same answer that young Kopé would receive nearly fourteen hundred years later: "Fork. I'm a pixie pony."

"You look like something that ought to be breathing air, Fork," Soledad said casually.

"That's why I'm in the bubble," he said, grinning awkwardly.

Soledad scooped up the bubble and held it closer to herself. "What am I gonna do, Fork?"

"You're asking me?" he demanded.

"I'm asking whoever's listening," Soledad sighed. "I don't _want_ to be queen. I'm trying my best. I can't think straight! What should I do?"

Fork bit his lip and looked around nervously. "Well… okay, I've got something. Whether you walk or swim or fly, the best way to think straight is to get out and _move_. Where do you go when you really need some time away from everything?"

Soledad blinked. Fork's tone indicated he knew exactly what the answer was. "The Crags of Okeanos," she said.

Fork nodded. "Of course. Head out there and mull things over… it'll help."

"Yes… okay," Soledad said slowly. "That sounds good…"

She swam off of her balcony and started swimming to the north. Fork remained where he stood, watching until she was out of sight. At that moment, he dropped to his knees in anguish.

"Aaaagh! I can't believe I said that!" he cried out. He looked at the sapphire on his bracelet and began speaking to it. "Did everybody hear that? She… she put me under pressure! I didn't know what else to say!" He stared at the sapphire as if begging it for help. "What have I done?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The Crags of Okeanos were a pair of deep trenches in the ocean floor. Down below, they were a twisting maze of passageways and surprisingly massive chambers of stone. Soledad knew them well, and was one of the only seaponies she knew who could navigate them without a light source, completely blind in that deep-sea world.

She swam down a winding tunnel now. "I _am_ trying my best," she assured herself. "I just don't have the potential… it's just the way I was born, lacking potential. Right?"

She paused. "HA!" she exclaimed, listening to the way it echoed around her. The echo pattern was unfamiliar.

"I don't know where I am," she realized. "Was I _that_ lost in thought? I've never gotten lost in the Crags of Okeanos…"

The princess swam forward just a bit, reaching out with her hooves. "Is this… a current…?"

Before she could process it, the current swept her away, further down this unfamiliar tunnel. She flailed, but had no strength to fight back. Instead, she relaxed, simply looking forward to where the current was taking her. She saw the red glow of the volcanic vent seconds before the current blasted her into its path, and its rising heat shot her upwards as it seared her to the bone.

She screeched hideously, pondered briefly how unfair it was that she hadn't died instantly, and tearfully muttered, "I'm sorry, Daddy."

Her body had been thrown toward the sky, and her skeleton sank to the bottom, coming to rest next to the vent.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Soledad opened her eyes and blinked in surprise. She had been fairly certain that she was dead. But no, here she was, on the ground beside the vent of thermal energy. She propelled herself away from the pillar as quickly as possible.

She then realized that she was taking in her surroundings, not by sound or feeling, but by sight. Here she was, at the bottom of the ocean where no sunlight could penetrate, yet she could see.

And what she saw right now was an odd protrusion stuck to her face. She touched it, and was horrified to realize it was her own muzzle. Her tiny mouth was now at the end of a long, tubular snout.

Looking beyond it, she realized with a gasp that this area of the Crags, its towering walls, were lined with immense veins of glassy obsidian, each vein as long as a whale and almost as thick. The area could have been mined for an unbelievably hefty profit if not for the vent that shared its chamber.

She swam up to one of the veins, wondering if her new dark-vision might allow her to see her own reflection in the obsidian. All she could see, as it turned out, were her eyes: no longer innocent and spring green, they had deep purple scleras, red irises, and slit-shaped yellow pupils, all glowing intensely. Despite the fear she was feeling, her reflection's expression was of pure fury.

"NOOOOOO!" she screamed.


	6. Sea of Stars 333ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Sea of Stars, 333 years ago

Far away from the world, through fields of light and curtains of mist, was the Sea of Stars. This eldritch place was a world of pure magic, an eternal night sky dotted with stars, swirling with multicolored nebulae of dust, and sparkling with silvery dust.

One of the Sea's inhabitants walked across the sky, her armored hooves creating ripples as she stepped. She was shaped like a very tall and thin pony, but beyond that it was impossible to tell what she looked like: her entire body was encased in a suit of armor.

The armor was held together by magic, and as such was wrapped around her as fully as a second layer of skin. Most of the armor was lavender, including the protrusions that surrounded her ears, but three other colors were prominent as well: golden plates covered her cranium, cheeks, hooves, back, and belly; green caps over her snout, throat, and rump; and blue-green circles on her elbows, knees, and hips.

The only thing that the armor left uncovered were a pair of narrow, nut-brown eyes that stared ahead with single-minded focus. She had opened a vortex leading to another world, and was mentally preparing herself to step through. The location she had chosen was one of two countries on a small continent to the east of Equestria. Seemingly, this was the only major region of that world to have no goddess.

"Song Li?" said a male voice.

The armored figure turned her head. A typical male of her vaguely pony-like species stood there. He was a tailless creature covered in electric-blue fur that was amazingly long and shaggy. From in front of his hairy, fin-like ears grew long tendrils of a paler blue fur that hung down past his shoulders; similar tendrils grew on the sides of his snout. A pair of dark brown eyes blinked at Song Li disdainfully… followed by his second pair of eyes, then his third.

Song Li turned to him, looking somewhere in the vicinity of his neck rather than at his face. "Um… yes… Yao Xing. Hello."

He scoffed at the mechanical nature of her response. "What are you doing?"

"…Why would you ask me that?" Song Li said blankly. "This is all I've spoken of for months."

"What, traveling to some crude physical world to become a goddess?" Yao Xing demanded, staring at the vortex. "You're actually going to do it!"

"This surprises you?" said Song Li. "I repeat, I've been discussing the matter for months."

"Yes, but I expected it to end up like all of your other plans," Yao Xing said. "A few months of talking and planning, followed by nothing."

Song Li pointed an armored hoof at him. From her forearm rose a shiny violet cannon, and she shot a blast of energy into Yao Xing's face. He flinched, but seemed unharmed.

"Is that all?" he said casually. "Come on, Song Li, take off that mask and let's talk some sense into you."

"No!" she said firmly, glancing at his face for less than a second before averting her eyes once again. "I… I've made a vow to never again take off my armor."

Yao Xing smirked. "You're regretting that already, aren't you? You can't bear to be stifled or confined."

"There's some mild panic, nothing I can't deal with," Song Li said casually, her voice breaking a bit.

Yao Xing sighed. "Song Li, why is the one plan you actually implement the one that requires you to run off to some alien world like a crazy person?"

"Because," she said shakily, "my other plans have all relied on me remaining in the Sea of Stars, where I have no future."

"You've never _tried_ to have a future!" Yao Xing retorted. "You make plans that you never see through!"

"My plans are lost causes," Song Li said gravely. "This world is against me, intolerant of my condition, my needs, my emotions! Only on another world may I find some shelter from this crushing despair."

"Despair?" Yao Xing laughed.

"Don't laugh at me!" Song Li sobbed. "I want a purpose in life, something to give me knowledge that I belong and am worthwhile! Yao Xing, I want friends… I've never known the feeling of fitting in."

"Song Li—"

"And YOU!" she growled, suddenly angry. "You, the most wretched excuse for a 'sweetheart' it's ever been my misfortune to know! Everything I ever did, I did to get you to love me! And the little you do for me in return, you do out of pity! Do you deny it?"

Yao Xing said nothing.

"Well, I am not so broken as to accept pity," Song Li said. "Once, but no longer. I will be revered as a goddess. I will have purpose beyond anything I have ever known."

"Song Li, you're acting crazy," Yao Xing said forcefully.

She turned on him and glared deeply into his six eyes with the two of hers that were visible. "Has there ever been a place for me? Ever? You are all I have. If I am to stay here, you have but to say that you _want_ me to stay. But you don't, do you?"

Once again, he didn't answer.

"Yes, you would like to see me go," Song Li said knowingly. "I cannot help that I need to be loved, to _know_ that I am loved, to be reassured each time I falter that I am loved! You have long since grown tired and ceased trying to maintain the charade. I shall free you from my tight hold and the exhaustion that I'm sure accompanies the task of dealing with my emotions."

She turned toward the swirling portal. "And still you say nothing. My only regret shall be that I never learned why being loved by a single creature on my own world was so much to ask. Farewell." She began walking.

"So… where are you going, exactly?" Yao Xing asked, with the faintest hint of concern for her.

She didn't look back; she only continued walking. "Someplace I might be needed," she said. "Or, if fate is willing, maybe even… wanted."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The trip through the vortex took many minutes. Her armor only partially protected her from the pain of hurtling between worlds.

When she landed on solid ground, she was dizzy for a moment, but the world soon came into focus. There it was, the green of the forest, the brown of the earth, solid under her armored hooves. It was all so foreign to her, but she quivered with excitement. Just as this world was alien, its inhabitants would surely find _her_ just as alien… and just as beautiful and impressive.

She peered through the trees to the small village she had targeted. It was a very nice place, with multi-story houses with slatted walls and tiled roofs, fences and stone streets. The inhabitants of this particular village were deer. Song Li could see them going about their business, buying and selling, while fawns played in the streets and musicians gathered around a fountain.

Song Li had landed outside of the place, to give her time to compose herself, but she was ready already. She propelled herself off of the ground with the jets on the bottom of her armor's hooves, hovered there for a moment, then took off through the village's streets.

It took her only a few seconds to race from one end of the village to the other, then she circled around it a few times from a high altitude, sure that every eye in the village was now on her.

She floated above the city, spreading her front hooves wide. "Behold, folk of Westeroceros!" she declared. "I am your—whoa!" Her hind hooves snagged against a chimney, and she stumbled in the air. She looked back indignantly at the chimney, then back to the crowds of deer below. "Um… right. I am your goddess!"

Perched on a rooftop, she looked around at the staring crowds.

"I was… _going_ for applause…" she muttered. "Perhaps I should… yes. Erm, my name is Song Li, good people! I wish to become the goddess your country so desperately needs."

The deer turned to each other and started muttering in confusion. When they looked back up at her in silence, their expressions didn't change: every face displayed detachment and bewilderment. Song Li quivered and backed away, wishing she could disappear, knowing that all she could do now was try not to cry.


	7. the tropics 25057594ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

the tropics, 25,057,594 years ago

Through a field of thick jungle grass, a flock of tiny serpents flew in a perfect formation. The serpents were black, with dark green eyes that lacked whites, white spikes running down their backs, and spade-shaped tails. Each one had two pairs of enormous flippers behind their head that allowed them to fly.

One serpent fell out of the formation, sinking to the ground. The rest of them turned in unison to look at her.

"Ah," said the formation's leader. "It's the old one…"

The elderly serpent tried to lift her head off the ground. "Lift me, my clan," she rasped. "I am but tired…"

The leader shook his head. "You know the immutable rules of nature, old one. Those who fall stay where they lie."

The old one's eyes widened. "No! You… you can't!"

"We must," the leader said solemnly. "Survival of the fittest, don't you know. Goodbye, old one."

The clan turned as one and flew off into the field.

"No!" the old one cried. "NOOOOOOO!"

Her cries were in vain. Not even an echo came back to her.

The elderly serpent bared her fangs in fury. "Ssssurvival of the fittesssssst," she hissed as she beat her flipper-wings with enough force to lift off the ground. "Sssuch is the rule that the ssssssserpentsss preach. Very well then. I will prove that I am fitter and better than all of them! The fittesssst… ssshall be I."

She rose out of the tall grass, rotating on her axis in midair to spot the place where the fields ended.

"To the foresssst," she said to herself. "Where ssssome go to die… I go to live."

She flew toward the solid wall of date palms. However, this trip of barely a hundred feet took its toll on the old serpent's thoughts. On the tips of the tall blades of grass, insects observed her curiously. Birds flew overhead, calling to one another. A hideous gray rat at the spot where the meadow met the forest glared up at her and hissed.

By the time she reached the first tree and pressed herself tightly against its trunk, she was painfully aware of the fact that she was only four inches long.

"By the sssssstarsss, that wasss harrowing," she said raggedly. "Everywhere I turn, sssssome hazard waiting to take my life. How unfair it isss! Why musssst everything and everyone be greater than a lone, tiny sssssssserpent?"

She made her way up the tree, through its dates and leaves, finally settling at the very top, exhausted and heaving.

Just above her, a spark of pale blue magic appeared, steadily expanding into a small orb, that enveloped the tiny serpent before exploding with a violent _poof!_, blasting her away.

When the blue dust cleared, there stood Fork, the pixie pony, his horn still glowing a bit with the magic that had brought him there. He had one hoof held against his forehead.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man," he muttered. "Oh, this is messed up, this is _so_ messed up…"

The elderly serpent rose up in front of him, facing away. Her body was crackling and sparkling with his magic, her muscles going through violent convulsions… but all of this passed, the serpent stabilized herself in the air, and when she opened her eyes, they were now that very shade of pale blue.

"What… isss thisssssss power?" she hissed. "Thisss immenssssse sssssstrength… witssss and magic… Yesssss… YESSSSSSSSS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

She flew away at a great speed, leaving Fork staring after her with his jaw hanging open.

"Could that have been…?" he said to himself. "No… no it couldn't." He held his sapphire charm bracelet up to his face. "Could it?" he asked the jewel.


	8. Ribbondale 1399ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Ribbondale, 1,399 years ago

Off in the leafy forests of birch and aspen outside of Ribbondale, two gangly teenage fillies giggled as they flew in circles around each other.

"Oh, come on, you can't be _entirely_ out of ideas," Annihilara chided. "There must be something we haven't tried to get our cutie marks."

"Well, let's look a bit… closer to home," Luna suggested. "I've always been interested in what my mother does. She can walk down a paved road and grow flowers out of it. I wonder how she found out how it's done?"

"Why don't you ask her?"

"Oh, who has the time?" Luna said dismissively. "Let me just try it." The little blue filly dropped to the forest floor and started strutting around.

"I'm concentrating," she declared. "Very, very hard. Are there flowers following me?" She screwed up her face in determined focus, her horn sparking with midnight-blue light.

"No, but zombies might," Annihilara said in amusement. "With your 'concentrating face' and the walk you're doing, they'll think you're their queen."

Luna giggled. "Let's see _you_ do better, cousin."

"Very well," Annihilara said solemnly, dropping to the ground herself. "How about we try out _my_ mother's skill? _Harsh_ weather manipulation via unicorn magic! Get me a cloud and a big strawberry milkshake and I'll show you what the daughter of Tempest is made of!"

"I like the sound of that!" Luna said gleefully. "You have so much confidence, I can't imagine you not… strawberry milkshake?"

Annihilara laughed hysterically. "Oh, nothing. Let me try something."

She darted off to above the trees, and returned with her legs wrapped around a cloud. She set the cloud a few feet off the ground and returned to the forest floor alongside Luna.

"Mother gave me a few hints on how she does it," Annihilara explained. "Let me give it a go…"

She clenched her green eyes shut tightly and gritted her teeth, her entire body quivering. An aura of pitch-black surrounded her horn, flickering on and off, until it flared up powerfully. The same aura surrounded the cloud, which crackled with thunder and released a few lightning bolts before disappearing into nothingness.

Annihilara collapsed to the ground, and Luna gaped at her.

"That was… the most amazing thing I've ever seen…" she muttered.

"What?" Annihilara demanded, standing abruptly. "Is it my cutie mark?"

"No… no, you don't have one yet," Luna said softly. "It was your aura. I've never seen one so strong, not even on a grown-up. For a moment, it swirled around your whole body. And it was… black. Blacker than black."

The pink filly whistled. "Wow. I wish I could have seen that."

"Well, a hearty hooray and huzzah," said a sneering voice. "Looky who we have here."

The little fillies turned to see Ragnarok and Xanadu. The pair were nearly fully-grown, with their auras of crackling lightning and sparking fireworks constantly active. Ragnarok smirked at them viciously, pink lightning shooting out of her eyes as they lit up with sinister joy.

"Off of another zany scheme, you two?" Ragnarok taunted as she circled around the two younger ponies. "Looking long and hard for your cutie marks? Please. Sometimes I wonder why you two even bother. Trying to find your special gifts? As if. It's obvious that all the talent in your family went to one place and one place only."

Xanadu tilted her head. "And where's that?"

Ragnarok sighed. "Celestia, you numbskull. I'm talking about Celestia."

"Oh, right!" Xanadu said, nodding rapidly, making the beads in her orange mane rattle and click. "Yeah… yeah, Celestia's great. She's real 'alpha pony' material, you know? Nopony else comes close. If you two fillies think you're gonna get a cutie mark as special as hers, you're… you're gonna be disappointed."

Ragnarok ground her teeth. "_I'm_ the alpha pony around here, Xanadu. I didn't think I'd catch _you_ forgetting about that too."

Xanadu shrugged. "Sorry. Point is, Celestia is crazy-cool and we're going to make a _huge_ production out of beating down her little relatives."

"Mmmmm, too true, too true," Ragnarok drawled, leaning down to stare at Annihilara in the eye. "It's pretty clear why Celestia hates you two so much. She talks about it all the time, you know."

Luna abruptly jumped at Ragnarok, wrapped her arms around the pale gray older filly's neck, and flung her over her head and to the ground.

"Hah?" Ragnarok peeped, flat on her back and utterly shocked.

Annihilara followed Luna's cue and flapped into the air, grabbing Xanadu by the sides of her head and lifting her off. The black-furred filly cried out in alarm and started flapping her own wings in an attempt to get away, but Annihilara gave a deft and masterful twist that flung her into a nearby pool of mud.

"Quick, cousin!" Luna called. "Here, here, here!"

Annihilara raced to Luna's side, and both of them gripped the end of Ragnarok's blue-and-white tail in their teeth, spinning her around once and tossing her into the mud as well.

"Ha-ha!" Annihilara declared. "Who's the alpha pony now?"

"We are!" Luna chirped. She extended her wing, and Annihilara slapped it with her own.

Ragnarok clambered to her hooves angrily, her horn crackling with magic.

"Oh, no you don't!" Luna cried out, tackling her. She stood atop Ragnarok's back, smiling invitingly at her cousin. Annihilara took the hint and hopped over to Xanadu, pushing her down further into the mud as well.

"So, cousin," Annihilara said casually, "as long as we're talking about things my mother's been teaching me, we've been working on how to river dance."

"Oh?"

"Yes, let me show you." Annihilara got onto her hind legs, with her arms held stiffly at her side, and broke into an elaborate jiggy dance right there atop Xanadu's body, her hooves flailing about wildly.

Luna laughed. "Oh, that's marvelous, Lara! It kind of reminds me that I've been skipping rope lately."

"Ooooh, how wonderful!" Annihilara gushed. "Let's see it, then."

"Well, I don't have a rope, but it goes something like this…"

Luna hopped up and down on the back of Ragnarok's neck. Annihilara broke out in fits of hysterical giggling. Luna noticed tears running down Xanadu's face.

"Oh, let's stop this," Luna said hastily, taking to the air. "Bullying may be a problem in our lives, but bullying _back_ never solved anything."

"Feels good, though," Annihilara muttered.

"Sorry, say again?"

"Nothing, nothing…"

"Here." Luna offered her hoof to Ragnarok, who grudgingly took it, allowing the little filly to help her out of the mud.

"So how's it feel, getting your butts kicked by a couple of teensy-tiny blank-flanked fillies?" Annihilara said sweetly, offering the same aid to Xanadu.

"Not a whole lot better than getting our butts kicked by anypony else," Xanadu said glumly.

"Precisely!" Annihilara said, as if genuinely impressed. "You hear that, Lulu? Ragnarok's toady can be taught!"

"Toady?" Xanadu said blankly. "Do I look like a toad? But I always try so hard to look good…"

Ragnarok sighed in annoyance.

"Oh, don't cry, Ragnarok," Luna said, gently tapping her shoulder. "Did you learn your lesson about respecting your elders?"

"My elders?" Ragnarok sneered.

"Well, of course," Luna said cheerfully. "The alpha—"

"What the devil is going on here?"

The four turned around rapidly, witnessing the sudden arrival of Celestia. As large as an adult of the common pony races, the pale pink young mare glared at them, her hair now immensely voluminous as it floated around her, and her pink eyes smoldering with outrage. The outline of her entire body glowed with an amazing expanse of gold light.

Annihilara flinched away from the terrifying sight, but Luna beamed. "Hello, sister! We were just teaching Ragnarok and Xanadu how to pick on somepony their own size."

Annihilara glanced at Luna and drew some courage from her apparent lack of fear. "Erm… that's right," she said. "Just making sure they know that next time they're pushing little fillies around, we… we…"

"We will find out!" Luna declared.

"That's right!" Annihilara said hastily. "We'll find out, and we will most thoroughly mess them up."

"So, at least _try_ to keep your lackeys under control," Luna concluded. "Come on Lara, I think I have a few new ideas for our cutie marks…"

The two little fillies started to walk past Celestia, who unexpectedly raised her hoof and struck Luna across her face. Luna gasped and stopped walking, her mouth hanging open.

Annihilara growled. "You—you nasty—YOU MONSTER!" She jumped at Celestia, who casually batted her away with a wing and struck Luna again, and again, driving her backward toward the mud pool.

Annihilara wrapped her arms around one of Celestia's hind legs. She sparked with black energy as she began making very real attempts to pierce the flesh of Celestia's flank with her horn.

Without speaking a word, Celestia shoved Luna harder and harder against her chest and throat. Luna regained steady footing at the very edge of the mud.

"Lulu, fight back!" Annihilara pleaded, as Celestia shook her leg to try to force her off. "Are you crazy? Fight her!"

Celestia jabbed her hoof mightily into Luna's forehead, dropping her into the mud. She then flew off into the air and twisted, pulling Annihilara off of her leg and swooping in a circle, viciously pounding Annihilara into the muddy pool alongside Luna. Finally, she set down on the ground alongside Ragnarok and Xanadu.

"Come on, girls," she said coldly.

Annihilara worked her way through the muck to reach for Luna and help her get up. "Lulu," she whispered. "Are you okay?"

"Mm-hmm," Luna peeped, a torrent of tears gushing from her eyes.

"You're bleeding!" Annihilara exclaimed, wiping blood from the spot at the base of Luna's horn, where Celestia's final blow had hit. "Lulu… we _creamed_ Ragnarok and Xanadu. Why didn't you fight Celestia?"

Luna's lip quivered. She barely managed to force out her response through her choking tears. "She's my sister!"

"You're _her_ sister," Annihilara countered. "She has no problem hitting you."

"Yes," Luna managed to gasp. "But I didn't know that." Her meaning was clear: Annihilara recalled the shock and surprise on Luna's face when she was first stricken, the near catatonia that had followed.

Annihilara quaked with rage. "CELESTIA!" she called, snarling and growling every syllable. "I hate you! I've always hated you! And now… now I know for sure that I will _always_ hate you! Do you hear me? I'll hate you _forever_, cousin!"

Celestia, walking away with her two friends, paused. "That's quite all right," she called over her shoulder before proceeding. The other two older fillies followed nervously.

Annihilara leaned against Luna, inspecting the hoof-shaped wound on her forehead. She leaned close and kissed the spot where Luna's horn met her skull. "It's okay, cousin," she whispered. "I'm here…" She glared at Celestia's retreating form. "We don't need to stay friendly with vile and monstrous ponies like _them_."


	9. Twixt 1088ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Twixt, 1,088 years ago

A caravan of merchants trekked through the Whispering Desert. The troupe consisted of an eclectic mix of ponies, horses, camels, and other creatures, some pulling the wagons, some walking along the edges to protect the merchandise, some simply tagging along.

They arrived in a small town, really nothing more than a circle of large huts centered around a stone courtyard, itself built around a single well. In the hills beyond this circle, the land was dotted with more huts, some of which had managed to set up little areas of farmland in the otherwise barren desert.

The caravan circled around the courtyard, the wagons forming a ring around the well. From one hut, a green horse trotted out toward the caravan. He had a blond mane with two long strands that popped out comically, and orange eyes.

"Greetings!" he said to the merchants at large. "I'd like to welcome you all to Twixt. I received a message that one family among your caravan was seeking permanent residence here?"

"That's us," called a maneless gray pony, stepping forward. "I'm Chronus Twister, sir. This is my wife Rhea, and our little daughter Kolassa. We're just looking for a place to… settle down."

The horse grinned down at them warmly. "Well, good to meet you. I'm Elan. I'm something of a community leader around here. One thing about Twixt: there are always empty huts. Come with me."

The three ponies, laden down with their bags and possessions, followed Elan around the ring of simple homes.

"You don't have a cutie mark," Kolassa noticed.

Rhea chuckled and patted her daughter's head. "Mr. Elan is a horse, sweetheart, not a pony."

Elan beamed at Kolassa. "That's right, no cutie mark for me. You're one of the special ones. Must be nice, knowing where you're going. Personally, I think my cutie mark if I had one would be one of these huts. Home is an important concept to me."

Chronus nodded. "I can see that. We've been on the lookout for a home for quite some time."

"So," said Elan, "you sound like you came from the pony nations across the sea. What brings you here?"

"Oh, just got tired of the dismal winters, I guess," Chronus said evasively.

"I see. Well, if there's anything you need, the community will gladly help you get settled."

"Ah, you know what they say," said Chronus. "Ask not what your community can do for you…"

"Hmm, well, that's the perfect lead-up into my next question," Elan said jovially. "What _can_ you do?"

"I was a soldier back in the day," said Chronus. "A pretty good one. I think maybe I've still got it."

"Good, good…" Elan muttered. "Twixt has a militia, of course, but it's almost never seen any action. Perhaps you should look into another trade, if only for the sake of your own stimulation."

"Hmm, all right. I just might do that. As for my wife here—" Chronus draped a front leg across Rhea's shoulders. "She's the best damn blacksmith you'll ever meet." The beautiful blue mare blushed.

"I look forward to seeing that," Elan said sincerely. He turned to Kolassa, grinning at the pale purple-pink filly. "And what about _you_?" he said playfully.

"I see things in my dreams," Kolassa said solemnly. "I knew months ago that Twixt would be our new home. I'm the one who knew to go with this caravan."

Elan blinked at her in concern, then turned inquisitively toward her parents.

"Oh, she's for real," Rhea assured him.

"We can't explain it, but she's yet to steer us wrong," Chronus said solemnly.

Elan nodded. "Well… I suppose that's… just something that happens in our world, isn't it? Regardless, here is our free hut." He stopped in front of one and gestured to it. "You'll find the basic necessities within: a place to sleep, to eat, to cook. You'll enjoy your new lives in Twixt, my friends."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

That night, Rhea and Chronus tucked the little filly into her bed. Rhea gently ran a hoof through Kolassa's tattered orange-and-red mane.

"Your dreams were right on the money as always, my dear," she said. "I think your sleep will be pleasant and untroubled from now on."

"Oh, I've had sweet dreams for a long time," said Kolassa. "Dreams of here." Her huge blue eyes started to close.

Chronus kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, sweet Kolassa. If you need us, we're right here on the other side of this curtain."

He closed the curtain that divided the two beds in the hut, then extinguished the lantern on his and Rhea's side. The hut went completely black.

Kolassa drifted off, but it was only a short two or three hours before her eyes fluttered open again. She blinked in the darkness, trying to make sense of the shape by the side of her bed. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that it appeared to be an enormous green frog with bulging red eyes, standing on its hind legs.

The creature hissed and opened its mouth, revealing a maw full of sharp canine teeth. The frog put its weight on one leg and raised its hands in a blatant fighting stance.

Kolassa did the only thing she could do: she screamed.

In an instant, Chronus was at her side, jumping over the bed to tackle the frog-monster and pound it repeatedly in the head with his hooves. The creature rolled out from underneath him and grabbed Kolassa's bedside table, ripping off one of its legs and brandishing it as a weapon against Chronus.

Chronus reared up and slammed the creature in the chest, knocking it against the wall. It retaliated with a crack across the stallion's jaw. Chronus snarled and spat out a mouthful of blood. With one hoof, he pinned the monster's leg-wielding arm against the wall by the wrist; with the other, he pressed hard against its head, making absolutely sure the back of its skull was against the hard wood of the hut so there would be no yield when he punched it hard in the face.

It made a dazed gurgling sound and clasped its free hand over Chronus's muzzle. Kolassa looked on and sobbed helplessly. Rhea rushed to her side and wrapped her arms around the filly, comforting her and staring worriedly at Chronus's battle.

Chronus threw his head around wildly, forcing the frog-monster's hand off, then lifted his front hoof again for one final, mighty punch that pounded the creature's skull with a sickening crunch. The monster collapsed to the ground, dead. Chronus heaved in exhaustion.

Kolassa looked between her mother and father, her face desperate. "You said that moving away from home would make the monsters go away!" she squeaked. "You said they wouldn't find me anymore!"

"I know we did, dear," Rhea said in a choked voice, stroking Kolassa's mane once more. "We said that because we really believed it." She turned to Chronus in horror.

"We were wrong," Chronus said gravely. "I'm so sorry, Kolassa. It hasn't stopped."


	10. Campus Cuda 2118ya II

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Campus Cuda, 2,118 years ago

A few months had passed, but only now was Soledad returning to the castle. She approached from the back, the area facing the emptiness of the ocean rather than the city.

She hugged the shadows of the walls and towers, finally making her way to the very top to slip into her own room via the balcony.

Soledad sighed and examined the new body she had acquired after somehow surviving the volcanic vent. She was as large as an adult seapony, hairless and with gray-green skin. A translucent green sail ran down her spine, and her forehead was covered in deep purple armored plates that ran all the way down her back. Her tail was finless and prehensile, curled up when at rest, with clubs at its tip and spikes at its sides.

Her face was dominated by a hideous tube of a snout; her ears had been replaced by a pair of many-pointed fins. Her eyes, still glowing purple, red, and yellow, burned with fury at all times regardless of her actual emotional state.

She nervously exited her room and swam through the hallways of the castle, making her way to the throne room. She saw her father in his magnificent headdress, flanked by two guards.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed.

King Nimo's ancient yellow eyes looked upon her and he gasped in horror. The two guards rushed at Soledad, and she cried out in terror. "Daddy, no! Daddy, it's me, Soledad!"

"Hold!" Nimo cried out in his frail, raspy voice. "I said HOLD!"

The guards stopped menacing Soledad and turned back to the king in confusion. The king approached his monstrous daughter, his eyes wide with wonder.

"Soledad?" he whispered. "What happened to you, Princess?"

"I… went to the Crags of Okeanos to think things over," Soledad mumbled. "The currents, they… they carried me to a thermal vent… I thought I was dead, but instead I became… this."

The king let out a sob. "But where have you been? Three months, you've been missing."

"I-I couldn't come back," Soledad said nervously, looking away. "Not looking like this. I wanted to die. I wanted to wander the Crags until I withered away from hunger. But… after three months without a bite to eat or a wink of sleep but still in better health than I'd ever been in life… I got bored. Death was off the table, so I decided to just come home and see if things could go back to normal." She sniffled. "Can I do that, Daddy?"

King Nimo hugged her. "Darling, no matter what you look like, you'll always be my daughter and my princess. I'm just glad you've returned. I love you so much, my dear."

She nodded. "Thank you, Daddy. I've missed you… and I love you too."

They parted, not quite knowing what to say about the situation.

"Soledad!"

The zooming red blur that was Jolly came around a corner and bowled over Soledad, hugging her tightly. Soledad exclaimed in surprise, realizing how much smaller than herself her friend was now. Soledad closed her eyes and ran her hooves through Jolly's immense mass of hair.

"Jolly…" she whispered. "What would I do without you?"

"Not a whole lot, me girl," Jolly said, smirking.

"How did you know it was me?" Soledad asked. "My own father didn't even recognize me."

"Ach, he's just yer da," Jolly said dismissively. "He dinna know ye like I do. Me, I'm yer best friend!" She stroked Soledad's chin, which was much lengthier than it had been before. "Didn't I tell ye that if ye kept makin' that face, it'd stick like that?"

"Oh, you're a scream," Soledad grumbled. "Don't you even want to know what happened to me?"

"In time, me friend, in time," Jolly said solemnly. "Ye're home now, that's all that matters. Questions and answers can wait, and won't do any good fer yer own health. All we can do is make ye comfortable in yer own skin. Let's just… do what ye were gonna do before ye disappeared."

Soledad shrugged and looked at the floor. "Well, you _were_ going to introduce me to your boyfriend, but…"

Jolly clapped her hooves eagerly. "O' course I was! I'll go and get him!"

"You're still together?"

"O' course we're still together, what kind o' filly do ye take me for?" Jolly said jovially. "I'll be right back."

She swam away. Soledad watched her, chuckling, then sighed and turned to her father.

"Jolly's right," she said. "The best thing to do is just pretend I was never gone. I don't know how this happened, or why, but I just want things to go back to normal."

King Nimo nodded. "Agreed. Spend some time with your friends… then we'll have to resume our discussion on your becoming queen, my dear."

Soledad grinned weakly. "Right… that."

Nimo swam into the throne room along with his two guards. Soledad winced as the heavy coral doors closed behind him.

"Here we are!" Jolly called. She swam back to Soledad, accompanied by a blue colt with a spiky spring-green mane. Jolly pressed herself up against the colt, one arm around him and the other caressing his face.

"Me boyfriend, Dorado," she said lovingly. "Dorado, I'd like ye ta meet me best friend in all the world, Princess Soledad."

"My greetings, your highness," Dorado said, bowing down. "I've heard a lot about you from Jolly… especially since you disappeared. She's been very worried."

Soledad nodded and reached out her hoof for Dorado to shake. "Nice to meet you. Jolly's told me quite a bit about you too. I only wish we could have met under circumstances that were less… ugly." She touched her own face sorrowfully.

"Yeah," Dorado muttered, accepting her hoofshake gingerly. "What exactly happened to you?"

"Shhhh," Jolly said, putting a hoof to Dorado's lips. "I'm sure the princess doesn't wanna talk about it."

"Not at the moment, no," Soledad said weakly. She grinned at Dorado. "So, how about that Jolly, huh? Isn't she wonderful?"

"Aw, are you kidding? She's the best," Dorado gushed, his yellow eyes staring deeply into Jolly's brown. Jolly giggled.

"Hey, um… what about _my_ boyfriend?" Soledad wondered. "I had him living in the castle. Is he still here?"

Jolly frowned. "Erm, aye, but…"

Soledad held up a hoof. "Not another word. I've heard it all before. Where is he?"

"Same place ye left him, I reckon," Jolly said exhaustedly.

Soledad nodded and swam down the corridors, finding one room in particular and knocking on the door. "Maol Straume?" she called. "Maol Straume, are you in there?"

The door opened, and another seapony colt floated there, looking her over. He had a golden-yellow coat and a mane of about the same color, in an elaborately spiked style that would have been impossible out of water. His eyes were a murky gray-brown and hidden behind heavy-lidded eyes bearing an excess of black eyeliner.

"Yes?" he said, looking Soledad up and down. "What kind of monster does the king have knocking on my door this time? None of you have scared me yet."

"Wh… what?" Soledad said blankly. "Maol, it's me."

He blinked disdainfully.

"Soledad!" Soledad exclaimed.

"What… oh," Maol said dully. "You've changed."

"To say the least," Soledad said sadly. "But I'm still me, Maol. I'm still the same filly you fell in love with… right?"

Maol considered her. "Well… of course," he finally decided. "Yeah. You're still a gorgeous princess to me." He said the words without a trace of inflection, but Soledad exclaimed in delight and pulled him into a hug.

"You _are_ still the princess, right?" Maol Straume asked.

"Of course."

"Good," he said, patting her on the back and grinning broadly. "Good."

Jolly and Dorado watched all of this from further down the corridor.

"Who's that joker?" Dorado muttered.

"The hell if I know," Jolly said bitterly. "But Soledad seems ta favor him, fer whatever reason."

Dorado tilted his head. "…She gets that he's totally evil, right?"

"Nay," Jolly sighed, shaking her head. "It's plain as day, but she won't hear a word about it, not from me or her father or anypony else. I'm not fond of havin' ta wait around until he finally hurts her, but I've resigned meself to it." She motioned for him to follow her. "Come on, let's give 'em some time alone. I mean, not really, but… ye know, make 'em _feel_ alone."

"Right," Dorado said nervously. The two swam off.


	11. polar rainforest 18295296ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

polar rainforest, 18,295,296 years ago

Since the day that blast of magic had turned her eyes an ethereal blue, the tiny black serpent had been growing steadily. Not only had she gained magical power, but it couldn't have been plainer now that she was immortal… and she was fairly certain that she would never stop growing.

In the space of a million years, she had grown from a diminutive four inches to an impressive sixteen feet, but hadn't stopped there. After more than six and a half million years of traveling the world a hundred times over, the serpent who now slipped between the trees of the lush tropical jungle found at the south pole had a length of over a hundred feet. Her four flippers were still rather large, but hadn't grown quite as much as her body; they couldn't possibly keep her aloft now, but the serpent still retained the ability to fly by use of magic.

Now, her long and pointy snout sniffed the moist air of the rainforest as she floated out amongst the treetops.

"Nature," she hissed disdainfully. She reached out with her forked tongue and plucked a spiny fruit from a tree. "Sssso coarssssssse and unattractive," she sneered. "What good is the earth'sssss way of dessssigning thingssss?"

She held out the fruit and opened her mouth wide. As she exhaled, a spray of gray dust burst out of her mouth and enveloped the fruit, modifying its shape until it became a perfect gray cube.

"A cube," the serpent said with perverse delight. "Flawlessssssss. Why doesss nature not ssssssstrive for sssssuch perfection?"

Suddenly, a light appeared from above, bathing the serpent in a gold-and-silver glow. "_Hold fast, goddess,_" said a voice. "_We would have a word with you._"

The serpent dissolved into nothing.

A second later, she found herself floating in a void of black. Her eyes darted around suspiciously.

"Greetings, goddess."

Blue lights appeared on the floor, row after row of perfectly straight blue lines that ran as far as the eye could see. A glowing figure approached the serpent.

The figure was like nothing that existed in the world—little did anyone know that its basic shape, that of a hoofed mammal, would someday be the standard for intelligent life. Though not identifiable at this period in time, this individual's species would someday be recognizable as a macrauchenia. Its fur was silver and glowed like starlight, its mane and tip of its tail were so white that they appeared to be two-dimensional. Its eyes were solid blue orbs not unlike those of the serpent, though the serpent at least had pupils, and the creature was draped in a filmy lace peplos.

The serpent lit up at the sight of the macrauchenia, bowing down to her. "Sssstellarissss," she said grandly. "Queen of the Old Godssss and ruler of the sssssun, moon, and sssstarsss. 'Tisssss an honor."

Stellaris nodded once. "And you honor me. We have taken note of you, young goddess—never before has our world been graced with a mortal who became immortal. Join me."

Stellaris walked along, and the serpent floated alongside her, her head level with the queen's and her immensely long body trailing far behind. The endless lines of blue faded away, and the two were suddenly in a tunnel, though it was also lined with similar blue lights.

"I would hardly call myssssself 'young'," the serpent said. "I've been immortal for jussst under ssssseven agessss. Why sssssssummon me only now?"

"Yes, well, seven million years isn't as long as you might think," Stellaris mused. "Why do you suppose we're called the Old Gods when there are no new gods? Some of us predate the world itself. And to the world, seven million years is not such a long time."

The serpent nodded, understanding.

"Well, no new gods… until you," Stellaris clarified, giving her a sideways smile. "That's an immense alteration the likes of which the world has never seen. We must decide what must be done with you."

"Done… with me?" the serpent repeated, blinking.

"Indeed," Stellaris said. "Oh, don't be nervous, we merely want to become acquainted with you and learn of your future endeavors. Hold on a moment…" She held up a hoof to block the serpent's path. She looked straight at the tunnel wall. A portion of the wall vanished, leading into a void of darkness. The serpent found herself drawn into the strangely heavy void.

"Ohhhhh, Stellaris, what have you done?" said a rumbling voice, with a subtle hiss beneath its words and a deep echo. "Who is this?"

Stellaris glared into the gloom. "Well, it's not as if you have any right to know, but this is the world's newest god."

"Is that right?" said the sinister voice. "A new pawn in your game?"

"The game is over, Beast," Stellaris said coolly. "Your loss was all-consuming. This one is as much as god as you or I, she is no pawn."

An eye appeared in the darkness. The eye was perfectly round, with a bloodshot yellow sclera, a green iris, and black lines in the shape of a pentagram for a pupil. "Oh? Well, best of luck to you, 'new goddess'. Let me get a look at you." A leg extended from the darkness, a long black leg shaped like a crooked archway, ending in a sinister hook rather than a foot.

"Don't look at him!" Stellaris urged, turning the serpent's gaze away. "As for you, be silent!"

Stellaris raised a hoof, and the glowing tunnel wall reappeared. Just as soon, the tunnel around them faded, and they were now inside an immense cloth tent, with alternating stripes of pure darkness and the now-familiar blue glow.

"Who wasss that?" the serpent inquired.

"He is 'the Beast'," Stellaris said solemnly. "He is not like the other Old Gods. He is… _pure_ evil. For crimes against the biosphere itself, he is imprisoned here until further notice. Should he step out of line again, we shall have to take more drastic precautions."

A small portal of spinning orange fire opened in the air in front of the serpent, and a creature's head poked out. It was covered in scaly maroon skin and had a long, crooked neck. Its eyes were slanted and white, and it had a long black hooked beak filled with sharp teeth. On the back of the creature's head was a huge, pointed black crest.

"What do we have here?" the creature said in a loud, nasal voice. Two other portals opened beneath it, and two long skinny arms emerged. The hands at the ends of these arms each had two long, clawed fingers and a hooked thumb, and the serpent noticed that rather than a left and right arm, both arms appeared to be right.

The hands cupped the serpent's face. "I've had my eye on you," the creature said. "You're into symmetry and smooth surfaces. Kind of freaky, but we can work with that. Good to have you on board, I've felt for a long time that we needed some new blood here in this god crowd, you know? Isn't that right, brother?"

He vanished in a puff of red smoke. Another two portals appeared; out of one came a head, the same color as the other, but this one had a jawless circular mouth like a lamprey's, lined with black lips and filled with rows of teeth. Its eyes were black circles, and a row of spines ran down the back of its head. The single arm that accompanied it was similar to those of the first creature, but with seven fingers.

The hand stroked the serpent's skin. "Mmmmm… smooth," it said in slurred speech, before vanishing just like the first had.

The beaked creature's head appeared behind Stellaris, and its hands grasped the sides of the queen's neck. "Please tell me she gets to live, Stellaris! You wouldn't be so cold-hearted as to drive all the great prospects of the first new goddess ever so unceremoniously into the ground?"

"Her fate is her own, of course," said Stellaris. "Unless she starts acting like you two, that is."

The creature's two hands went up in the air. "Aw, don't say that, Stellaris, my lovely peach, my delicious rib bone, my moon and sun and stars. Did we introduce ourselves? I don't believe we did."

He popped out of sight, and five portals appeared directly in front of the serpent, the two faces and three arms poking through them and gesturing grandly and wildly.

"Weeeee arrre the secrets of the world!" said the beaked beast. "The truths of the universe! THE LORDS OF FLAMES AND TERRORRRRRRRR!"

They vanished again, and a large portal appeared up above. A single creature dropped down onto the ground. Indeed, the serpent was only mildly surprised to realize that both of the strange creatures inhabited the same body.

"Kane!" the beaked head declared.

"Aaaaaaand Boll!" said the lamprey-mouthed head.

Kane and his two arms were on the right side of the body, Boll and his seven-fingered hand on the right; Kane's long neck caused him to tower a head over Boll. Their body was lizardlike, bipedal but hunched over. The leg on Kane's side was a four-toed talon, Boll's a black cloven hoof. Their back was covered in a mess of long black quills, and their long and stiff tail was lined with white spikes.

Most alarming were the two spots on their chest, just beneath their two throats: bright red masses of tissue, as if their two hearts had been ripped out and the wounds never fully healed.

As the two-headed Old God posed, their circus-tent-like surroundings vanished. Kane and Boll looked around wildly at the nothingness.

"What just happened?" Kane asked. "Who killed the lights?"

"Do ignore them," Stellaris assured the serpent. "They have not yet earned the right to speak to you—they're not nearly as bad as the Beast, but they, too, are imprisoned, at least for a while."

Stellaris and the serpent wandered away from Kane and Boll.

"They don't _look_ imprisssoned," the serpent observed, turning her head back toward them. Boll was flicking the spines on her back as her lengthy body continued passing by him.

"Trust me, they are," said Stellaris. "Nothing horrendous, they just have a fondness for creating worldwide nightmares and setting people on fire. But that's why you're here… so I may determine what kind of goddess you are. Are you the sort who wishes to torment the mortals and leave the world in ruins? Or are you the other sort, like we who shall be looking you over, who simply want the world to continue turning precisely as it is?"

"Isss there a third kind?" the serpent asked evasively.

"Not that I can think of," said Stellaris. "Unless you wish to live _among_ the mortals, guide them somehow? But what sort of god does that?"

The serpent shook her head. "No, that'ssss not the life I want," she said. Under her breath, she added, "Ssssssso I'll have to take a fourth option."

The blue light that occasionally permeated the nothingness in which they travelled now solidified into a landscape of grass and dirt.

"Now is the time to introduce you to the three Old Gods who are currently in my favor and free to make their own decisions," said Stellaris. "I expected the twins by now, and Carto should arrive soon after. Are you familiar with them?"

"No, only with you," the serpent admitted.

"Well, then I should warn you, the twins were born in an era when the universe was at its most chaotic, and it shows. Ah, here comes one now."

A swarm of gigantic orange scorpions came rolling across the landscape, stopping reverently in front of Stellaris.

"Greetings, my queen," the swarm said in one voice. "And to you, new goddess. I am Hukwurm."

The serpent stared in disbelief as every individual scorpion transformed into a red-and-black tarantula. The spiders started scrambling over each other in an attempt to get a better look at the serpent.

"Hukwurm is but one individual, but he takes the form of this swarm," Stellaris explained. "A swarm of any manner of primitive creature, depending upon his mood."

"Yeah, but he has some control over it," said a cheerful female voice. "Me, not so much."

The serpent looked around frantically, her eyes setting upon a tiny green frog. The frog waved to her, and its outline wavered and swirled just before it abruptly turned into a huge alligator.

"Hello! I'm Shifter," the alligator said in that very same cheerful voice. A second later, its image blurred once more and transformed into a dimetrodon. "See? Epitome of chaos. Can't get a hold on it."

"I think the newcomer is a bit perturbed by us, sister," the numerous spiders who made up Hukwurm noted.

"Can't blame her," said Shifter, who was now a coiled python, which transformed immediately into an enormous tortoise with a long, hooked beak. "She used to be a mortal. She doesn't see all the energy of the universe like we do. How sad!"

The serpent snarled.

"At ease," Stellaris said gently. "Ah, and here is the last of our number. My sister for all intents and purposes, she is called Carto."

The final Old God floated slowly into their midst, a relatively small creature the color of dust. In the future, the shape of her face would have identified her as a pony, though no such creature existed at the time. Her body, however, was like nothing that would ever exist: her four limbs and her tail were long and boneless paddles, which she flapped very slowly to move through the air. Her face was covered in nicks and scratches, and where her eyes would be there were veiny flaps of burn-scarred skin.

"Greetings, sister," said Stellaris. "It's good that we're all now gathered here to meet…" She paused, and turned to the serpent. "Have you a name, goddess?"

"No," the serpent admitted.

Stellaris smiled at her. "Well, then perhaps now would be a good time to give yourself one."

The serpent nodded. "Allow me a moment to think it over."

Carto placed a flipper on the back of Stellaris' neck and leaned in. "Styellaris, my syister, heed my wyords—thyis gyoddess shyall be tryouble."

"How so?" Stellaris whispered back.

"Her hyeart is full of blyackness," Carto said. "I see her dyesire for pyerfection tyaking her to a tyerrible place, to the ryuin and dyestruction of the nyatural order."

Stellaris frowned, observing the serpent's thoughtful expression.

"It is not our way to destroy creatures for what they _might_ do," Stellaris said. "For almost seven million years she's done nothing but observe. What evidence do you have that her pattern will ever change?"

Carto shrugged. "Only whyat my dryeaming eye syees."

"Well, duly noted," said Stellaris. "We'll keep an eye on her, but now is not the time to act against her so hastily."

"Mitgaeard," the serpent decided. "My name issss Mitgaeard."

"Mitgaeard," Stellaris said thoughtfully. "The Matrix?"

"Hmm, no, I am not the Matrixssss," the serpent muttered. "Make it… Sssssørmur dï Mitgaeard."

"'Serpent of the Matrix'," Stellaris said, nodding. "A good name."

"Byeware," Carto said gravely. "I syee nyo gyood syigns."

"Understood," Stellaris muttered back to her. "Very well… all of the gods are now acquainted with one another. Fare thee well, Sørmur dï Mitgaeard. We shall return you to the world now."

"Ssshall our pathsss crossss again?" she asked.

"Oh, no doubt about that," said Shifter, now a huge red salamander which was on fire. She quickly became a feathery gray velociraptor, then giggled and disappeared in a spray of rainbow sparkles.

"After all, we've got all of eternity," Hukwurm agreed. The tarantulas changed into bright green millipedes, which scattered in all directions, vanishing in similar sparkles all around the landscape.

Stellaris waved her hoof at Sørmur dï Mitgaeard, and she too disappeared.

"I lyike it nyot, Styellaris," said Carto. "We invyite our dyeaths from thyis one."

"And what do you intend to do about it, Carto?"

Carto shrugged. "We're the Old Gyods. We dyon't ryeally _do_ anythying."

Stellaris chuckled. "Quite, and I rather like it that way. Let's hope that any and all 'new gods' uphold the tradition."


	12. Forest of Feyr 1396ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Forest of Feyr, 1,396 years ago

Luna trudged down a dirt path, meeting Ragnarok and Xanadu at the edge of a forest. All three carried heavy saddlebags.

"Ladies," she said coldly.

Ragnarok's pink eyes and Xanadu's orange turned to her. "Luna?" Ragnarok exclaimed in surprise. "Look at you, all grown up. What brings you here?"

"Celestia invited me," Luna said, somewhat bitterly. "Something about sharing in an adventure?"

"Oooooh, silvery," Xanadu remarked, noting the silver light illuminating Luna's body.

"Tia invited you?" Ragnarok muttered, tilting her head. "I just… that's surprising, because I was under the impression you two didn't get along."

Luna flinched. "Well… we don't. But now's as good a time as any to reconnect. She is, after all, still my sister. I can't let her embark on a dangerous journey with so much between us still unsaid."

Ragnarok nodded. "I can certainly understand that. You look good, kid."

Luna was about the same height as Ragnarok and Xanadu; this fact, combined with her age and her noticeably underdeveloped wings and horn, seemed to be a sure sign that she would someday soon be a towering vision like her sister.

The pale pink mare with the golden aura was waiting just inside the forest, her friends and sister joining up.

"Hey, Tia, look who showed up," Ragnarok said brightly.

"Ah, Lulu," Celestia said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Now, take it easy, girls, I know what you're thinking: My little sister? But she's weak and useless…"

"We weren't thinking that," said Xanadu, puzzled.

"Oh," Celestia said dismissively. "Okay, maybe that was just _me_ who thought that. But take a look at this—Lulu, flash 'em your cutie mark."

Luna's lip thinned, but she turned to the side, displaying the mark of a moon against a black night sky.

"You see? The moon," Celestia said smugly. "You know what that means, don't you? It means her destiny is to be _almost_ as special as me. Almost." She laughed. "But enough of that. If we're all stocked up on supplies, let's get this show on the road."

The four immortals trekked into the gray-and-yellow foliage of the Forest of Feyr. The statuesque mare, her pink mane magically flowing like calm ocean waves and her aura brightening the forest, led the way with her head held high and a strut in her step. The gray mare with the wavy mane of blue-and-white and her body crackling with pink lightning, and the charcoal-colored one with orange hair and surrounded by dark green sparks, followed behind her side by side. The periwinkle teenager with the pale blue mane and her teal eyes downcast in seething resentment took up the rear.

Ragnarok and Xanadu slowed their pace to walk alongside Luna.

"I'm sorry about her," Ragnarok whispered. "Listen, I know there's been a lot of bad blood between us and you, but… well, I hope that as long as we're on this mission, we can be friends. At the very least, maybe we can get along better than you do with your sister."

"That should be easy," Xanadu mused. "I mean, hard. No, easy. Wait… she _doesn't_ get along with Tia, so getting along with us better than her would be… easy. Yeah."

Ragnarok rolled her eyes. "Stop talking before you give yourself an aneurysm, Xanadu. Anyway, Luna… let's try to get along here, mkay?"

Luna frowned. "'Bad blood' doesn't begin to cover it, my dear Ragnarok. You've tormented me all my life. Such a minor gesture of friendship will not be sufficient."

"Look," Ragnarok said tersely, "we were stupid fillies doing stupid stuff. Let's try to be adults about this. We're going to be adventuring together, don't you want to know we have each other's backs?"

"And Celestia tormented you too," Xanadu pointed out. "At least we're trying to make amends. She's… not."

"Well said," Ragnarok said, nodding slowly. "So, Luna, come on—are we a team here or aren't we?"

Luna stared straight ahead as they walked for a few seconds.

"Fine," she finally said. "Stars know that if I were in trouble, I would want help from you. So, yes, you can count on me. But we are far from being friends, ladies."

"Ease up on the chit-chat back there," Celestia called. "Come on, we're on an adventure."

"You got it, Tia!" Ragnarok called. She patted Luna on the rump. "Good work on the cutie mark, girl. It's beautiful."

"Oh, yes!" Xanadu said eagerly. "I've never seen one quite like it, the way it goes all the way down your leg…"

"Mmmm, very much," Ragnarok agreed, examining the mark. "That _is_ unusual. It's eye-catching in a _very_ sexy way… have you started getting looks yet?"

Luna blushed. "I… I'm not sure."

"Hmm, hold on a moment," Celestia said, stopping in her tracks and looking up into a tree. "Is there someone there?"

"Aw, crap," said a voice in the tree.

Celestia shot at the tree with a blast of golden magic, and a six-inch-tall white stallion fell out from his hiding place among the leaves.

"And what do we have here?" Celestia wondered.

"Well, that went well," he muttered. The silver-maned pony fluttered up to her eye level on his multicolored wings. "Hello, ladies. Don't mind me. I'm just a guy trying not to make a mess of things, don't you know."

The others caught up to Celestia and stared at the tiny pony curiously. "Who are you?" Celestia demanded.

He sighed. "Fork. I'm a pixie pony. Boy, I've had to introduce myself a lot more than I thought I would. Stealth isn't my thing, apparently. Oh, well, as long as I've got you here…"

He raised his hooves, propping the square sapphire on his bracelet between them. "Why don't you ladies tell me where you're going?"

"We," Celestia said pompously, "are on our way to Ironbridge, to depose the vicious dragon who has held the city under his power for years."

"Very nice," Fork began to say, but was undercut by Celestia, who continued her speech in a grandiose and self-important tone.

"Yes, the ponies of Ironbridge have suffered long enough! The legendary Scraggle, the black ruby wyrm, has reigned unopposed through fear and violence. Are none brave enough? Powerful enough? Not until today. _We_ shall defeat him!"

"Oooh, and how do you intend to do that?" Fork said with fascination.

"Oh, little of this, little of that," Celestia said casually. "Don't really have a plan, but with me and my girls here being who we are, we don't need one." She scooped up Luna in her arms, her golden aura blending together with Luna's silver one. "We're very, very special, you see."

"That's it?" Fork said blankly. "…All right then. Thanks for sharing. Off you go."

He returned to the tree, and the four young mares continued down the path.

"This doesn't make any sense," Fork muttered to himself. "They just left Ribbondale, but they're going straight to Ironbridge from there? Before they ever even—OH MY GODDESSES! That's not good! That can't happen!"

He fluttered after them, taking a position in front of Celestia's face once again. "Hang on a minute, you're just leaving home and going _straight_ out to fight Scraggle? Without getting the Elements of Harmony first?"

"Elements of Harmony?" Celestia repeated. "Of course we won't have the Elements of Harmony. They've been lost for centuries."

"Oh… really?" Fork said blankly. "But—but you _have_ heard of them!"

"Of course. Everypony has."

"But you don't have any idea where they are?"

"Again, no."

Fork furrowed his brow. "Then how in the world do you expect to defeat…?" His eyes widened. "Could it be that…? Oh. Okay. I see. That's the way it is." He made eye contact with Celestia solemnly. "What if I told you that I know _exactly_ where the Elements of Harmony are?"

Celestia shrugged. "I'd say that I don't really have a reason to trust you."

"You trust me enough to tell me where you're going and why, but not enough to take my advice?" Fork pressed.

"What's the worst you could do?" Celestia countered. "Tell Scraggle we're coming? All the better. Accepting your aid is something else altogether. I've never even heard of a 'pixie pony' before."

"No, of course you haven't," Fork muttered. "And that certainly does sound like what I've come to expect from you, but… but the Elements…"

"We don't need some hokey fairy-tale artifacts to defeat Scraggle," Celestia said, smirking. She frowned. "What did you mean, you've come to _expect_ from me—?"

"No, no, no, yes you do!" Fork said frantically. "You _must_ find them! If you face Scraggle without them… well, that's not even worth considering. You will _die_. You _will_ die. And I don't want you ladies to die! You _need_ the Elements of Harmony to defeat Scraggle."

Celestia scowled at his pleading expression. "And you know where we can find them?"

"I know _precisely_ the place where you're going to pick them up."

Celestia glanced at the other three, then turned back to Fork and nodded. "All right, tell us where we get them."

"Ha-ha, now we're cookin'!" Fork said jovially.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Fork watched the four ponies fly off into the distance, going south instead of west as they'd planned, and at his own urging, flying over the Forest of Feyr rather than walking through it.

"I get it now," he muttered to himself. "I thought I had to stay out of sight, that the slightest bit of interference from me would ruin everything. But… it _can't_ be ruined, not by me. That's not how this thing works. In fact, not only am I harmless, but I'm the only thing taking them where they need to go. I'm an integral part of each of their stories. …Remarkable."

He held up his sapphire and spoke to it. "You know what that means, don't you? It means I can do whatever I want, no consequences!" He laughed. "Oh, baby, I'm going to enjoy this journey even more than I thought!"

His horn sparked with sky-blue energy, and he vanished in a large puff of magic, still laughing hysterically.


	13. Twixt 1085ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Twixt, 1,085 years ago

A pale pink filly edged nervously into one of the huts on the outer rim of Twixt. Blankets draped over the windows darkened the room, and Kolassa blinked rapidly, her eyes used to the intense desert sun.

"Don't step forward just yet, child," said a high-pitched female voice with a strong accent. "Give time for your eyes to adjust."

"Y-yes ma'am," Kolassa stammered.

"Spyder has been expecting you, young Kolassa, and heard tell of why you're here. But Spyder would like to hear it from you. Why are you here?"

Kolassa swallowed, her eyes searching the darkness for the source of the voice. "Well… ever since I was a baby, monsters have been coming into my room in the dead of night and trying to kill me or steal me. Every night that they come, my father has to rush in to rescue me."

"Don't move your eyes so much. Focus on a fixed point. Go on."

"I don't want to put my father in danger like that anymore," Kolassa said with increased confidence, her eyes holding stationary. "I want to learn how to protect _myself_. The monsters get more dangerous the older I get."

"Monsters, she says," the accented voice mused. "A monster is just an animal you haven't met yet, child."

"You haven't seen them," Kolassa said flatly. "They are _monsters_. Can you teach me how to kill them?"

"Spyder can teach you to be at peace within your body, mind, and soul—to be aware of all things. Whether you can kill monsters with this knowledge is entirely up to you."

Kolassa sighed. "Well, they did say you were odd."

"Spyder is not odd. Have your eyes adjusted?"

"Yes."

"Fantastic."

Kolassa caught a glimpse of a four-hoofed creature darting across the floor of the hut, pulling the blankets off of the windows and flooding the room with light. Kolassa clamped her eyes shut.

"Eyes open, child! Until you have been trained, your eyes are the only tools you have to be aware of all things! Alertness, young Kolassa!"

Kolassa heard a _whoosh_ of air, and quickly raised both of her front legs, clapping her hooves together in time to stop a long, curving scimitar horn from colliding sidelong with her head.

She opened her eyes, getting her first good look at Spyder: a large gray antelope, with a black muzzle, black and white stripes on her face, slanted blue eyes, and two long backward-swept horns.

The antelope grinned. "Well done, child. Let us begin."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Kolassa sat on the crest of a sand dune, her eyes closed, and breathing in and out slowly. Spyder paced around her.

"Yes, well done… breathe, little one," Spyder said softly. "Make every breath exactly the same as the one before it. And think of nothing! Nothing but the breathing. Thousands of wayward thoughts run through a creature's head every day. Someday, you will come up here and truly think of nothing but your breath for a thousand breaths… but you must be honest with yourself and not claim that day has come before it has."

Kolassa didn't respond, but continued breathing.

Spyder smirked. "Hmm." She blew in the filly's face, but she didn't react. She feinted a punch to Kolassa's face with her hoof, and was thoroughly ignored.

"Aha," said Spyder thoughtfully. "You are better at this than Spyder thought you would be. But perfection of self comes only through years of study. Are you willing to commit to _years_ of this?" After a silence, Spyder chuckled. "You may answer Spyder, little one."

"Yes, Master," Kolassa said serenely. "As many years as it takes."

"Eh, Spyder doesn't like that word, 'Master'. Call Spyder… Spyder."

"Yes, Spyder."

"Good," Spyder said pleasantly. "If you truly wish to commit, you will stay with Spyder. You will live in her hut, you will eat her food, she will fight off your monsters for you as you train. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

Spyder ruffled Kolassa's red-and-orange mane. "Good lass, Kolassa. Spyder likes you, she thinks."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Kolassa and Spyder jogged through the desert side by side, Kolassa balancing a bucket of water atop her head.

"Spyder?" Kolassa said raggedly.

"Speak."

"You're an oryx, right?"

Spyder's lip thinned. "A gemsbok, child. Spyder is a gemsbok."

"Oh," Kolassa said blankly. "Mr. Elan said you were an oryx."

"'Oryx' is the name the gemsboks were given by the horse and pony settlers who came to the Whispering Desert from other lands," Spyder said distastefully. "Different names for one folk, yes. But as it's her land and her species, Spyder thinks _she_ would know the proper name."

Kolassa shrugged as she ran along. "Makes sense to me."

They ran in silence for a moment.

"So, these are gemsbok lands?" Kolassa said, frowning. "Ponies and horses moved here from elsewhere? But I've barely seen anyone who wasn't a pony or horse since we came here, except a few in the big city."

Spyder sighed. "That much is true, little pony. The Whispering Desert has a scant few livable scraps of land, and your kind drove out Spyder's kind and all the others. It's a sad truth—one that should be taught to _more_ children, Spyder thinks."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Mr. Elan?"

The green horse smiled at Kolassa, her baby blue eyes gazing at him from far below.

"What can I do for you, dear Kolassa?" he said, leaning against the well at Twixt's center.

"I've been learning about the politics of the Whispering Desert nation," Kolassa said softly, accepting a glass of drinking water from him. "I thought, as our mayor, you could answer a few questions for me."

"I'm not really a mayor, little one," Elan chuckled. "But I'm sure I can help you. What did you need to know?"

"Well, Spyder mentioned something a few weeks ago," Kolassa said calmly. "And I've read some pamphlets and things… I find she's right. Why do horses and ponies live so much better than everyone else? It's not fair."

The horse's jovial orange eyes quickly became serious as he grasped the seriousness of the question. He blew his two curls of blond hair out of his eyes. "That's just the way things are, Kolassa. My ancestors came here, they built cities and towns that made the nomadic lifestyle of the natives look like a joke. It was a long time before the native races were even _allowed_ to enter our civilizations. And now, well, they've been forced to start at the bottom." He sighed. "I don't like it, Kolassa, but what can I do? I'm just one horse in a small village. I try to make Twixt a good place to live for whoever wants to do so, but I can't fix the injustices of the entire country."

Kolassa set her water glass aside. "I can," she decided. "Everyone who lives in the Whispering Desert should be as happy as I am. When I'm older and I've mastered all of my disciplines, I'm going to make it happen."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"She's been running you ragged for months," Chronus observed. "I'm glad that antelope is giving you days off, at least."

Chronus and Rhea were at their dining table, sipping cups of hot tea. Kolassa was pacing the floor, her own teacup forgotten.

"She's _giving_ me days off, but I'm not taking them," she said firmly. "I'll be living with you again for a while, but I'm still going to practice every day. And 'that antelope' is Spyder, my master and my close friend. Show some respect."

Chronus smiled weakly. "She seems to have… changed you over the months, Kolassa."

Kolassa blinked in surprise. "I… I haven't changed, Father. I just understand things better. I know how to take care of myself. I think about the future now, and making a difference." She walked around the table and pulled both of her parents into a hug. "I'm never going to _change_, not really," she said cheerfully.

Chronus's purple eyes met Rhea's pale yellow, and they smiled in unison. Kolassa took a moment to examine her parents' cutie marks: her mother's winding river and her father's hourglass.

"I think I'll get my cutie mark soon," she said casually. "Once I've become just like Spyder, that's when it'll happen. I know it."

Outside the hut, Spyder listened in on this conversation. She touched a hoof to her heart, her eyes welling up with tears.

"And I'll also be… more like you two," Kolassa finished, beaming at her parents.

Rhea raised her head. "Did you hear something?"

"Oh, I'm sure that was just Spyder," Kolassa said quickly. "She's still going to keep an eye on me. She's been fighting off the monsters, but it's time for me to try and take one down by myself."

Rhea bit her lip in concern. "Well… we're _all_ watching over you for when the next one comes, Kolassa."

Kolassa nodded. "I know. Thank you."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Kolassa was awakened in the middle of the night by deep, ragged breathing. She opened her eyes calmly. Standing over her was an enormous gray-furred creature, like a bipedal wolf, its red eyes glowing and its teeth bared in a snarl.

She breathed in and out calmly, and crawled out from under her covers, standing atop her bed. She bobbed up and down a bit, staring down the monster, inviting it to make the first move.

It lunged, teeth-first. She spun around and bucked it across the jaw with blinding speed. It fell back in surprise, rumbling deep in its throat as it ran a claw across its cracked teeth. It gaped at her, stunned by the strength in that little kick.

Kolassa stood on her hind legs, her front hooves pressed together just above her heart. She then lifted one of her hind legs, standing perfectly still atop her mattress on a single hoof.

"Come on, comrade," she whispered. "Give my skills a good trial run."

The wolf-monster snarled and swiped at her with its claws; she blocked its forearm with her own, batting it away with surprising force. It clawed at her head from above, and she punched it in the wrist, then gripped its hand between her hooves and twisted. It dropped to its knees, and she returned to her neutral, one-legged stance.

The beast stared in disbelief at its snapped wrist, then crossed its arms indignantly, glaring at her. It got back to its feet and revealed its second pair of arms, which had been concealed on its back. These arms were impossibly muscular, and rather than paws, they ended in shiny black pincers. It clacked these claws menacingly, before lunging at Kolassa with one of them.

Kolassa closed her eyes and didn't move, letting the attack come. There was a loud _crack_, and the creature jumped back a third time, howling in pain as it clutched what remained of its pincer. The beast's crab-like appendage had shattered in its attempt to squeeze Kolassa's skull.

"Whoa," Kolassa commented, wincing. She took another calming breath. "I shouldn't have toyed with you like that. I should have finished this already."

She jumped to the creature's eye level, pounding its face at least twice each with all four of her hooves before she dropped down to the ground. Gray-green blood spilled from its eye and mouth, and it coughed horribly.

She kicked it in the shins, cracking the bones. It collapsed, and she raised both of her front hooves and pounded them into its collarbones, breaking them as well. She placed her front hooves on the ground and twirled, bucking it in the chin with enough force to send it flying straight through the curtain that separated Kolassa from her parents.

It was dead before it hit the ground, its neck broken. Kolassa noticed her parents wide awake, clearly poised to rush to her aid.

"Kolassa?" Rhea said shakily.

The seemingly ordinary filly examined the body of the horrific monster she had killed. She beamed at her parents.

"It's definitely dead," she said cheerfully. More solemnly, she added, "I can handle them alone from now on. No one else has to fight _for_ me. That makes me feel much better… you know, about this probably happening for the rest of my life." She nodded, sniffling slightly. "Yeah… well, goodnight."

She returned to her side of the curtain, pulling the monster's carcass along with her.


	14. deep southern jungle 736ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

deep southern jungle, 736 years ago

"Here… we… are," said Bogglesby.

A magic orb at the tip of his horn lit the darkness with a blue glow. Kopé took in their surroundings: a perfectly square corridor going off into the distance. Above, she could see the night sky through the equally-square stone chute they had just dropped down.

Ngala fluttered down, the microraptor settling on her customary place on Kopé's head, her front claws gripping the little okapi's horns.

"Walk with me, child," Bogglesby said smugly. "Everything we've done in the jungle thus far has been leading up to this moment."

"Ooooh," Kopé cooed enthusiastically. "What are we here for?"

The orange unicorn tossed his head cockily. "Not your concern. Follow."

He strode forward purposefully, Kopé at his side, eager as ever.

"It's nice to see you so cheerful for a change, Bogglesby," she said cautiously.

"You've no idea. All my dreams… years of hunting for the proper information, months of wandering through the jungle with an incessant talker, it's all going my way now and I am so far past thrilled that—"

"Cliff," Kopé said hastily. "Cliff!"

The floor ended abruptly, and Bogglesby nearly pitched over the edge into a deep chasm. Kopé caught one of his legs and pulled him back. He panted raggedly, looking down into the depths, shivering at the sudden adrenaline rush.

"Why didn't you warn me about that sooner?" he demanded.

"I thought you knew," she said helplessly. "You didn't know it was there from the echo patterns of our hoofsteps?"

His strange gray eyes bugged out at her incredulously. "No!" he exclaimed. "Damn it, foolish child, you could have gotten me killed!"

"Me?" Kopé said blankly.

"Yes, _you_!"

"I'm sorry—"

He scoffed. "Don't apologize, Kopé, just stop screwing up."

"Yes, Bogglesby," she muttered.

"Let's see what's on the other end of this chasm," Bogglesby muttered, flinging his orb of light down the tunnel. It raced across a long stretch of open space, before reaching the opposite end of the trench and flying past a barely visible skinny metal rod. The orb dissipated, and a new one appeared on Bogglesby's horn.

"Did you see that?" he whispered. "Looked like it could have been a lever."

"In an old place like this?" Kopé said doubtfully.

"Most intriguing, isn't it?" Bogglesby said with a devious smirk. "Now how do we get close enough to get a grip on it with my magic?"

"Did _you_ see it, Ngala?" Kopé asked.

The feathery blue creature nodded and took to the air, her four wings undulating slowly as she made her way across the chasm. Bogglesby sent another orb of light floating across the chasm, illuminating Ngala as she pulled the lever.

From the chasm wall, a huge slab of rock rolled out, forming a portion of a bridge. It clicked into place, and another slab rolled out from underneath it, connecting with the first to bridge the gap further, followed by a third rolling beneath the first two.

Ngala flew back to Kopé, perching back on her head.

"Haha, well done, Ngala," Bogglesby said with a broad grin. He looked to Kopé. "If only _you_ had quite so many utilities as your dinosaur, eh?"

He started across the bridge. Kopé followed him, grinding her teeth. Ngala warbled inquisitively. Kopé's big yellow eyes looked up into Ngala's beady black ones.

"One of these days," she promised softly, "he's going to cross the line into saying things I can't accept. When that day comes, I'm going to coconut him to death in his sleep, you have my word." She giggled. "But not today, nor any day soon. He's still the only thing giving me a good grip on staying sane."

She followed Bogglesby across the bridge, catching up to him as he examined a stone circle set in the back wall. He twirled his horn around the circle, lighting it up with his magic and slowly pulling it out of the wall.

He turned it over. Though featureless on one side, the side that had been buried in the wall was covered in glyphs and markings.

A circular door opened in the ceiling above, sliding open slowly.

"Quite a surprise," Bogglesby observed. "The ancients knew a thing or two about gears and mechanisms, and all made of stone. You may want to come up here if you don't want to be left behind."

Kopé hastily rushed to his side. A circular portion of the floor below their hooves started rising upwards into the circle in the ceiling. The two of them passed through the dark tube and back out into the starlit jungle.

"Oh, look, there's where we started," Kopé said, pointing to a square hole in the ground a fair distance away.

"Well, I'm glad the builders of that tomb were thoughtful enough not to make us walk all the way to the other side," Bogglesby said, licking his lips as his eyes darted over the stone disk. "This is no kind of time for _that_ sort of character-building exercise. Would have killed the excitement of knowing that with this disk, I'm halfway to Mooneye Lagoon."

"What is it?" Kopé said curiously, peering at the stone disk. "Oh, I know that shape. It's just like your map. But something's different…"

Bogglesby hastily tucked the disk into his robe before she could get a good look at it. "As I said, not your concern."

Kopé scowled. "Um… actually, I think it _is_ my concern. I've been with you for months and I still don't know a thing about why you're here and where you're taking me. And I have the right to know what I've been working for, because…" She snarled and shoved her face into his. "Because you couldn't have done it without me! You don't know a thing about surviving in the jungle, Bogglesby 'the Scholar'! I've navigated for you, fed you, healed you! I've been doing _all _the work! All I ask in return are a few words of explanation. Please."

Bogglesby growled at her. "You want to have rights, little jungle rat? Well, you had plenty of rights before you met me. Go ahead and return to that life without me. A free citizen, living in that silence and solitude that you crave so much!"

Kopé cowered.

"No, wait, you _hated_ the silence and solitude," Bogglesby said snidely. "If you want that back, then by all means, keep asking me for more than your keep. But I have a feeling that's not what you want."

Ngala hissed and screeched at Bogglesby, causing him to back away in alarm, but Kopé scarcely noticed, her head hanging weakly. She muttered something.

"Say again?" Bogglesby challenged.

"I'm sorry," Kopé whispered. "Please let me stay with you."

"Good girl," said Bogglesby pleasantly. "Now keep your trap shut for a while as I determine where our course takes us next."

Ngala chattered, seething with hostility, but Kopé followed Bogglesby obediently.


	15. Fawn Temps 235ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Fawn Temps, 235 years ago

"…And so I came to your world and declared myself your country's goddess."

"How did that work out?"

"Not well. As I said, that was almost a century ago, and as you can see, I am _not_ your goddess."

"True."

Song Li's armored body was draped across a comfortable armchair made for creatures much smaller than her. The chair was set in a dimly-lit tavern, within the enormous and ancient stone castle that was the University of Fawn Temps. Her companion was a deer, a young buck with yellow eyes and a rather small pair of antlers.

"So, I've been starting at the bottom," Song Li continued. "Living among you. Trying to make my way as a contributing citizen of this country, in whatever way I can."

The deer leaned toward her. "Yeah? And how's that going?"

"Quite… dreadfully," said Song Li, her voice cracking. "Ninety-eight years I've been trying to work my way into your civilization… and I'm exactly where I started when I first arrived. I haven't had a job, or a roof over my head… I haven't made a single friend."

Her lips, though unseen, were clearly quivering as she continued. "I am making an attempt to change things now, by attending this university. Though I don't honestly expect it to make much of a difference. I'm too far removed from the norm, as much a misfit and outcast as I ever was in my own world. What could have possessed me to think that the solution was to inhabit a _different_ world, one where I would be strange and foreign? Madness, plain and simple. I am nobody. And I have nothing."

Song Li's eyes welled up with tears, and she released a few ragged sobs. She breathed deeply and opened her eyes. "But… forgive me. I've been talking about myself for over ten minutes and I haven't even asked your name."

The deer smiled at her. "It's Tron."

"Tron?" Song Li repeated in alarm. "To my knowledge, no such name exists."

He laughed. "It's Terence, actually, but when I was little I couldn't pronounce it. So ever since I was two, I've introduced myself as 'Tron'."

Song Li nodded. "I understand. Erm… such childish whimsy is rather alien to me, and causes me some discomfort. Forgive me if I insist on calling you Terence." She paused. "Of course, such a request assumes that you and I will have continued interaction after today… a distinct unlikelihood. Forgive me for being presumptuous."

Tron looked surprised. "Of course we'll still talk after today. You tell a heck of a story… and, well, I feel for you. Why would I want to stop speaking to you?"

"Everyone else has," she said softly.

Tron took a sip of his hot cider thoughtfully. "Where are you staying, Song Li?"

"The quad, I would assume," she said glumly. "It took a lifetime of panhandling to enable me to afford the entrance fee of this university. A place to live is, as it always has been, entirely out of the question. And when it comes to a place to sleep, the softness of grass is my only preference."

Tron shook his head and stood up. "I can't let you do that. Come with me."

"I'm sorry?" Song Li said in surprise.

"Just come on."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Tron led Song Li through the streets of Fawn Temps, wading through the fallen autumn leaves, which crackled beneath their hooves. Walking alongside one another, Tron was barely as tall as Song Li's legs.

"So, where did you say you were from?" Tron said casually.

"The Sea of Stars."

"You called it an alien world," he said. "How alien are we talking?"

Song Li pondered how to answer, then decided to simply remove her mask. At her mental command, the dark green metal cap over her snout withdrew into nothingness, followed by the golden plates on her cheeks and the top of her head, and finally the lavender cowl that covered her ears and the rest of her face.

Her fur was fluffy and pale blue. Her ears were shaped like weathered stone arrowheads, and the fur on her muzzle was shaped to give her the appearance of having a hooked beak. She had three pairs of narrow, light brown eyes stacked on top of one another, of which only the middle pair had been visible through her mask.

"Does this answer your question?" she said solemnly.

Tron nodded. "That's pretty alien."

"Indeed." With a whirring sound, her mask reformed around her head. She sighed. "I made a promise that I would never reveal what was underneath my armor… but at this point, my promises mean nothing."

"Don't say that, Song Li," Tron chided. "Promises are important. Just don't do it again. Here we are."

He had stopped in front of a large house, square and symmetrical, clearly newly-built and newly-painted.

"Do _you_ live here?" Song Li breathed.

"Yes," he said. "My… my father is Tyrannus, the patron of House di Vrec. He had this house built for me… just a temporary space for my university years, then we sell it off."

"You are most fortunate," Song Li commented.

"Don't remind me. Anyway, I've been looking for roommates… not out of necessity, just because I want something to be done with the five bedrooms the place has."

"Ah," Song Li said, nodding. "A golden opportunity to make a few lifelong best friends."

"That's what I'm hoping for," Tron said quietly. "I've got three guys settled in there. Come on in, let's meet them."

"As you wish," she said, puzzled.

She followed him into the house, crouching down to fit through the front door. The front room of the house contained an emerald green and royal blue area rug, a golden chandelier, shelves of vases and trophies, and an assortment of cushions around a massive wooden coffee table.

An elk sat on one of the cushions, staring blankly at a few items on the table.

"Hey, Dustin," said Tron.

The elk turned his green eyes, one bloodshot and one at half-mast, toward Tron and blew a puff of thick white smoke out of his mouth.

"Tron," he mumbled. "Nice to see ya. You wouldn't believe me if I told you how much I missed you."

"Well, I'm glad you can live without me, at any rate," said Tron, looking at the small objects on the table. "Whatcha got here?"

"Glad you asked," said Dustin. He scooped up a wrinkled brown mushroom in his hoof. "These mushrooms get your blood boiling, make you feel like you can take on anything. Never try to study without them, brother!" He popped the mushroom in his mouth and chewed on it as he continued speaking; it seemed to be surprisingly crunchy. "And these big pink berries? Sweet as candy, and much better on your teeth. And the _euphoria_…"

"Euphoria?" Tron said, raising an eyebrow.

"To say the least. And the surges of inspiration that flow from you when you keep eating these berries for maybe a day? The ideas, the concepts, your life will finally be _completely_ on track… but you gotta write down your ideas while the berries are still in you. Otherwise you'll forget." He tapped a scrap of paper he had on the table's surface. "Of course, writing doesn't always work. This is totally illegible. All I remember is that it was the greatest idea I've ever had, but I'll never know what it was."

Tron tapped Dustin on the shoulder. "Well, maybe I'll look into that sometime in the future. But not today."

He returned to Song Li's side. "That's Dustin," he said softly. "I'm not entirely sure he even attends the university, but, well…"

"Hey, Tron?" Dustin interrupted. "Thanks again for letting me live here. You're like my hero, bro."

"…But he kind of grows on you," Tron finished with a little grin.

"Hey, Dusty, is that Tron?" said a rumbling baritone from another room.

"Yeah, I'm here, Boomchukka," Tron called. "What's up?"

A huge, bearded moose moved through a door that seemed to lead to a kitchen. He had to tilt his head to get his antlers through the door, and would have been as tall as Song Li if not for his hunched-over posture.

"Listen, do you think I could take the room on the first floor instead?" the moose asked. "It's got the only door in this house I can, you know, fit through."

Tron smiled. "Sure thing. Whatever you need."

The moose gazed up at Song Li in surprise. "Hey, ain't you that immortal pony who's been wandering around the country since, like, a century ago?"

"I am Song Li," she replied. "A wayward immortal, to be sure, but I have never claimed to be a pony."

"Well, how about that?" the moose muttered. He approached and shook her hoof. "They call me Boomchukka—the 'drums of war'. Just enrolled at the bard college here."

"…Boomchukka?" Song Li repeated nervously.

"Ah, yeah, Song Li's not so fond of nicknames," Tron said hastily. "I don't suppose you have a real name she could call you by?"

"…No," Boomchukka said flatly. "I'm a bard, Boomchukka's my bard name."

"I… couldn't possibly call you that," Song Li said, suppressing giggles. "But it's an honor to meet you."

On the right side of the living room was a large staircase; a pale gray caribou trotted down the steps. He had shiny black antlers, and a small third horn in the center of his forehead. He brushed past Song Li dismissively.

"Tron, my man!" he declared. "I've just officially moved myself in. This is it, buddy-boy. My university days will be the time I achieve my lifelong dream!"

"I believe it," Tron said sincerely. "Song Li, this is Airball. His family works for mine; we've been friends for ages. He's devoted his life to proving that caribou can fly, as they could in our ancient legends."

"Now, see, I thought that was reindeer…" Boomchukka said dryly.

"Same thing," Airball said irritably.

"Are ya sure?"

"Indeed, reindeer and caribou are separate names for a single species," Song Li supplied.

"Yes, thank you," Airball said, nodding to her rapidly. "Song Li, right? Hey, you can fly, can't you? By shooting jets out of the bottoms of your hooves?"

"Erm, yes, but don't rely too heavily on _that_ knowledge," Song Li said nervously, planting her hooves on the ground. "It's part of my armor, not of me, and the magic caribou of your folklore flew unpropelled."

"Yeah, I know," Airball sighed. "Thanks for shooting straight with me, anyway. I'll work it out someday."

Dustin looked up from his dubious food items and did a double-take at Song Li. "Whoa! How long has _she_ been standing there?"

Tron rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Well, now that I've got all three of you here, I have an announcement. Song Li here will be taking our fifth room."

"What?" she said in alarm.

He touched her hoof gently with his own and craned his neck to look up at her. "Song Li… I know we just met, but I can't let you live in the courtyard. I know I can't save everyone whose life has fallen apart, but I can save _you_. Is everybody okay with this?"

The other three muttered their general assent.

"I… thank you, Terence," said Song Li. "I am in your debt."

He smiled. "Friendship doesn't produce debt."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Song Li stood alone in the bedroom Tron had given her. After making sure the door was locked and her window blinds closed, she concentrated hard, and her entire suit of armor vanished.

Her body was fluffy and largely featureless, and much thinner than her armor made her appear. She stretched and flexed, then pulled aside the blankets of her bed.

"My goodness…" she muttered. "A real bed… I never thought I'd see such a thing."

She sank into the soft mattress, her head on the pillow and her blanket pulled in as tightly as possible. One tear dripped from each of her six eyes.

"This could work," she whispered. "It will not be long before my new friends tire of me… but for now… yes. I shall love them and allow them to think that they like me… I shall embrace this life."


	16. Lake Valley 1032008ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Lake Valley, 1,032,008 years ago

Sørmur dï Mitgaeard had not been particularly active in the intervening ages. The great black snake had settled in a single place, Lake Valley, and pondered the nature of her existence. She was now nearly four hundred feet long, her flippers almost comically small and the spines on her back more widely-spaced, sharp and ferocious.

Two hundred years ago, she had started up two special projects simultaneously. One was now finished, and the other would soon be. She flew over what had once been the surface of the lake, grazing a flipper against a silvery, perfectly smooth solid surface.

"Now issss the time," she whispered to herself. She raised her head, her throat going through numerous muscular contractions as she forced something out of the depths of her stomach. She coughed something into her closed mouth, which she slowly opened, dropping a living being onto the smooth surface.

It was a serpent, some eight feet long but unusually thick and stubby. It was pure white, with smooth skin rather than scales. It had a stubby pair of arms but no legs; its tail ended in two fins like an eel. Its eyes were round and the same shade of blue as Sørmur dï Mitgaeard's, but lacked pupils.

"I greet you, my ssssson," said Mitgaeard. "Two cccenturiesssss I sssspent conssstructing you to absssolute perfection within my body. You are… Accord."

"I am Accord," he repeated tonelessly.

"Fantasssstic," she said in delight. "You, of courssse, may call me Mother." She pushed his chin up with a flipper, looking him over. "Featurelessssss, no flawsss or blemissshessssss upon your ssssskin, nor ssshall there ever be… emotionlesssss, yesssss… I have built the perfect being."

Accord didn't respond.

"Wonderful. Behold, my sssssson: thissss wassss oncccce Lake Valley."

The natural slopes and curves of Lake Valley had been replaced by… nothingness. Where the valley had once been, there was a perfectly circular and perfectly flat area, an inhospitable floor of cold and colorless goo.

"I call it the Matrixssss," Mitgaeard explained. "Or rather, jussst a pieccce of it. It'sss only jussst beginning. Sssssomeday the whole world will be exssssactly like thissss. Can you imagine it, Accord? Geometric perfection of the entire planet. It will be magnificcccccent…"

She looked down to Accord and waited for him to react. He simply said, "Mm-hmm."

"And when we've turned the world into a flawlesssss ssssphere of glorioussss glasssss… you and I sssshall desssstroy it!"

"Make the world perfect and then destroy it," Accord repeated blankly.

"Yessss, precccissssssely," Mitgaeard spouted, clapping her flippers in delight. "That'sss why I wanted a companion who wasss unfeeling… one with emotionssssss would object to the dessssstruction of all thingssss."

"All things?" Accord inquired. "Clarify, Mother."

"Yesssssssssssssss," she said with a broad grin. "After the world, we take the ressssst of the universsse. Then the only thingsssss in all creation sssshall be you… and I."

"…Mm-hmm," Accord said again.

"Tirelesssssly, I've been filling in thissss valley and creating you," Mitgaeard muttered. "I think Sssssørmur dï Mitgaeard sssshall take a day or two… to resssst." She settled down on the Matrix's surface. "When I am ressssted, your training will begin, Accord. You will learn to do what I do… you will be fasssster than I, more efficccccient. And your versssssatility will enable you to defeat thosssse who would ssssstop usssss. Two hundred yearssss, it took me, to fill in thissss sssssingle lake. You, meanwhile… oncccce you've learned my trade, learned the wayssss of battle, you'll take that long to envelop the world."

She closed her eyes. Accord merely stood still and watched her.

"Oh, damn," said a smooth and snooty voice from somewhere outside what had once been the valley. "I missed _all_ of my possible cues, didn't I?"

Mitgaeard took to the air and looked around, snarling viciously.

"Ah, well, there are other ways to make a big entrance," the voice said, from a different direction this time.

Mitgaeard turned toward the new direction, growling deep in her throat.

"See? It works, doesn't it?"

The great black serpent screeched furiously in the direction of the sky.

"Easy, Madam Matrix… it wouldn't do well for you to lose your temper now."

Mitgaeard seethed and growled. "Khan…"

"Indeed. FIRST WAVE OF ATTACK, GENTS! GO!"

Four vibrantly-colored serpents, each one about half the size of Mitgaeard, jumped out from four different directions out of the forest just outside of the Matrix. They each wrapped their coils and arms around Mitgaeard's body. She struggled and screamed, her scream accompanied by a blast of dark energy pouring from her mouth.

The beam of magic sliced off the head of one of the four huge serpents, and its decapitated body tightened its coils around her neck. Mitgaeard shut her eyes tightly and flexed her entire body. Beams of orange light blasted out from the spaces between her scales, chopping the dead serpent and the three living ones into chunks which fell away from her.

"SECOND WAVE!" called the haughty voice. "Second wave, followed by me. Let's go, let's go!"

A flood of serpents, of varying sizes but most of them no bigger than ordinary snakes, poured out of the forest from every possible direction, jumping upon Mitgaeard's body and scratching her frantically with their fangs and claws.

As the masses of serpents weighed her down, another serpent, this one easily as big as Mitgaeard herself, slithered out of the woods. He was a blindingly bright green, with a pale green underbelly. His muscular arms were clasped behind his back as he slithered forward, and at the end of his tail was an enormous quivering rattle.

This serpent had a cobra-like hood with a pair of eyespots: the eyes appeared to have slits for pupils, yellow irises, and purple scleras. His actual eyes were identical to the spots.

Two other giant serpents flanked him, and behind him came another horde of small ones. He casually looked over the struggling Mitgaeard, grinning at her.

"Madam," he said cordially. He was the owner of the smug voice.

Mitgaeard growled. "Khan," she said again. "Why doessss the king of the sssssserpentsss bring his armiessss to darken my doorssssstep?" She shook her body, causing many small serpents to drop down to the surface of the Matrix.

"Oh, I'm here to save the world," Khan replied. "And I arrived just in time, it would seem."

Mitgaeard opened her mouth wide, spraying black smoke at Khan. He grabbed the two huge serpents guarding his sides and thrust them into the path of the deadly breath. The pair screamed in terror as the smoke clung to their bodies and reduced them to piles of dust.

Khan bent down and grabbed two fistfuls of small serpents. He smashed them against Mitgaeard's face, using the layers of living creatures to add force to his slapping attacks. She opened her mouth, preparing another burst of breath magic, but he picked up another handful of his subjects and shoved them down her throat. She hacked and coughed, the convulsions sending more dead serpents tumbling to the ground, but more emerged from the forest, continuing to overwhelm her.

"Do you like that?" said Khan, reaching out with a hand to pinch her mouth shut. "It's a state of emergency: every serpent in the world is under my command. But just in case, that's not _all_…"

He pointed toward the sky, and a horde of beings began dropping down from above: heavy winged creatures, most of them made of stone, but some of them metal, and others larger and made of gemstone. The weight of this army pushed Mitgaeard to the ground, and Khan lost his grip on her snout.

"Gargoylessssss?" she demanded.

"Yes," said an immensely deep voice. "Gargoyles."

The biggest gargoyle of all, this one made of jade, dropped from the sky and landed with an immense thud on the silvery surface. Like all gargoyles, he had three-fingered hands, three-toed feet, and a pair of immense batlike wings; his head was bald and he had long, sharp ears, and a smooth face with no nose or mouth, just a pair of slanted red eyes.

"I think she's disabled, Big D," said Khan, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "Don't let her open her mouth! Her magic is concentrated in her breath."

Several of the gemstone gargoyles raced to the front of Mitgaeard's body and clamped her mouth shut.

"Her mouth must open extremely wide to activate her breath weaponry," said the huge jade gargoyle. "Allow her to open it at least enough so she may speak in her own defense."

The gargoyles loosened their grip on her jaw. "My thanksssss," Mitgaeard said snidely.

"Don't think that being able to speak will change your fate," Khan taunted. "It's a foregone conclusion."

The jade gargoyle addressed her. "I am Dignity Omega, supreme justiciar of the gargoyle race."

"Jusssssticccciar? Fancccccy."

"And stop hissing when you speak!" Khan snapped. "By the stars, woman, who _does_ that?"

"At ease, Khan," Dignity Omega commanded. "Sørmur dï Mitgaeard, you have confessed your intent to destroy all of reality. Ordinarily, my sense of justice would tell me you should be sentenced to death. Sadly, analysis reveals that nothing short of the power of the Old Gods can take your life. Therefore—"

"Oh, you gargoyles and your justice and analysis!" Khan snapped. "Get to the fun part!"

"I'm _getting_ there," Dignity Omega said, his tone not changing at all. "As death is not an option, Sørmur dï Mitgaeard, you shall be imprisoned in Tartaros."

"What, pray tell, isss Tartarossssss?" Mitgaeard snarled furiously.

"Oh, it's a magnificent collaboration between the serpent and gargoyle nations," Khan said delightedly. "A prison built along the border between earth and hell. And it was built especially… to get rid… of _you_."

"No prissssson can hold me," Mitgaeard retorted.

"No doubt," Dignity Omega agreed. "But we have plans for making sure you stay. Take her away."

The army of gargoyles took to the air, carrying the immense disabled serpent along with them, slowly making their way south.

Khan picked up Accord by the tail; the white serpent didn't react. "What do we do with this one, friend?"

"I am no friend of yours, murderous desecrator," Dignity Omega replied. "Our alliance begins and ends with the imprisonment of Sørmur dï Mitgaeard."

"Yes, yes," Khan said irritably, "but my point is: what do we do with _him?_" He shook the dangling creature.

Dignity Omega considered. "Mitgaeard intended to train him. If he is not trained, he is no threat to the world."

"Perhaps, but we both heard her call him her son," said Khan. "We both saw her give birth to him, for a certain definition of the word."

"State your point, Khan."

"My argument is this: blood doesn't lie. If we let him be, he'll end up just like his mother."

"…Agreed," Dignity Omega finally said. "But it would be a grievous crime to kill this creature, an emotionless newborn. And if we imprison him alongside Mitgaeard, she may yet attempt to train him."

"You doubt the effectiveness of the security measures we have set up?" Khan countered. "I told you she has a weakness for… diversions."

"Very well," said Dignity Omega. "Accord, too, shall be imprisoned in Tartaros."

"As you command, my dear justiciar," said Khan with a bow. He tossed Accord in the air, adjusting his grip on the creature. "I'll take care of him."


	17. Forest of Feyr 1396ya II

**WARNING:** This solitary chapter is rated M. Proceed with caution.

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Forest of Feyr, 1,396 years ago

"Celestia, watch out!" Luna cried.

Celestia turned her head and jumped back in surprise as something stepped out of the wall.

The four young mares were exploring the depths of the ancient temple Fork had directed them to. There was a single entrance, and a positive labyrinth of narrow hallways and staircases, all lit by silver stars spaced along the walls.

Two of these walls opened now, one on either side, and out stepped a pair of white marble statues, statues of a macrauchenia dressed in white lace.

The statues beheld the group, Celestia in front and the others huddled behind her in the cramped corridor, then casually began walking toward them.

"Temple guardians!" Celestia said eagerly. "How exciting! I bet Stellaris herself put them here to ward off intruders."

"That's fascinating," Luna said dryly, "but I think they're going to try to kill you."

"Well, of course they are," Celestia said cheerfully.

She shot a beam of gold out of her horn and into a statue's chest. The statue kept walking, and didn't seem the slightest bit damaged by the destructive beam.

"Impervious to magic," Celestia noted, somewhat deflated. "All right, good to know."

She lowered her head and jammed her horn itself into the statue's chest. She successfully pierced the stone, and the guardian faltered.

"There we go, that did it," she said, jerking her head around to increase the damage and throw the guardian's balance off.

Luna thought for a moment, then set her horn aglow with midnight-blue magic. The spell covered her wings, causing her primary feathers to sprout into sharp blades. She flapped once, producing the scrape of metal on metal.

Celestia, still throwing around the first statue, spotted these wing-blades out of the corner of her eye. "Oh yeah," she said. "Do it, Lulu."

Luna flapped again. "Don't call me Lulu."

The other Stellaris statue was upon her, rearing up onto its hind legs to attack with its front hooves. Luna crossed her wings in front of her face to block the attack, then spun around, the wing-blades slicing through the marble of the statue with incredible ease, slicing it into multiple pieces.

With another spin, Luna aimed a heavy kick at the statue being impaled by Celestia. It shattered into chunks, and Celestia quickly lifted her head, stretching her neck from side to side.

"Only Annihilara can call me Lulu," Luna concluded.

"Duly noted," Ragnarok muttered nervously as the blades changed back into Luna's normal feathers.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

In a central chamber deep within the bowels of the temple, the quartet found themselves walking on an impossibly old and decayed carpet that ran down the middle of the chamber, a path from one end to another.

On the far wall, the silver stars lit up a pedestal, upon which stood six stone spheres.

"That's them!" Celestia squealed. "Those must be the Elements of Harmony!"

She abruptly started into a gallop, but her path was blocked: more statues of Stellaris, these ones larger and taller, towering over even Celestia. They circled around the group, running at high speeds, unlike the slowly shuffling guardians they had previously encountered.

Two of them starting closing in around Celestia, while four others herded Luna, Ragnarok, and Xanadu into a small space.

"Stay calm, girls," Luna said brusquely. She kicked one in the side as it passed. "They are immune to conventional magic, it seems…" She zapped one with a beam just to make sure; nothing happened. "But a physical attack augmented by magic should do just fine. Like so."

A marble pillar along the sides of the room was quickly wrapped in Luna's magic and flew across the room, hung above one of the marble guardians for a moment, then came crashing down to the ground, shattering both pillar and statue into little chunks.

"Whoa," Ragnarok exclaimed. "All right, then…"

She zapped the ceiling with pink lightning; chunks began falling on the guardians, not really damaging them much.

Luna rolled her eyes. "All right, that's a good start, I suppose."

She lifted all the chunks off the floor and began flying them around the battle at unbelievable speed, riddling the two speedy guardians with holes until they collapsed to the floor.

Xanadu gaped. "Luna, _how_ did you get so powerful?"

Luna shrugged. "I've practiced magic eight hours a day for, oh, the past year. Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Xanadu muttered.

"Tia!" Ragnarok cried out.

They whirled toward Celestia, still pinned between the two guardians, one of which reared up and struck Celestia across the face twice with its two front hooves.

"Sister!" Luna called to her. She rushed to Celestia's aid, her hooves and wings beating frantically. She rammed into the rearing statue head-first with immense force, shattering it to bits with that single blow.

Celestia dizzily shook her head. Her nose was bleeding and she had a black eye. She lifted one of her huge wings to half-heartedly shove away the one remaining statue.

Luna took note of her sister's injuries and flew into a blind rage, lunging at the guardian with only her hooves and horn, punching and slashing with tears streaking down her face.

"Hmm…" Celestia said quietly. Her horn lit up, and conjured up a bunch of stone disks. The edges of these disks were sun-gold and covered in blades. These blades began spinning like circular saws, and Celestia was clearly awaiting the moment to hurl them all at the guardian.

Luna, grappling with the statue, saw what she was about to do. Her eyes widened. "No! Celestia, don't—"

The six disks sped wildly toward Luna and the statue. Luna shrieked and dove out of the way, her limbs entangled with the statue's, which tumbled down on top of her. Luna growled and speared the statue through the head with her horn. It continued to struggle, so she pulled away and speared it again through the chest. She rolled the unmoving statue off of her body and stood up, spotting the disks buried in the wall just behind her.

"Are you insane?" she snarled at Celestia. "That could have killed me!"

"It could also have killed the guardian," Celestia said brightly.

"It didn't even _damage_ the guardian!"

"Well, it didn't damage _you_ either, so stop your bellyaching," Celestia retorted. "It's called a calculated risk."

"I fail to see how it was a risk to _you_," said Luna through gritted teeth. "It was all calculation. The risk was to me."

"That sounds about right, yes," Celestia agreed, turning around to walk toward the Elements of Harmony.

Luna scowled after her. "I hate you," she said flatly. "So much."

Celestia stopped in her tracks, then turned toward Luna and swooped down upon her, getting her face as close to her sister's as she possibly could. After a few seconds of glaring at each other, Celestia finally spoke.

"Try to imagine how much I care what _you_ think," she whispered.

She started toward the Elements again, Luna stomping along at her side.

"And by the way, no need to thank me for being the only competent pony on this team," Luna snapped. "It's my pleasure, really."

"I'm sure it is," Celestia said cordially.

The two of them stood in front of the pedestal, where five stone orbs sat in a circle, a sixth in the middle of them.

"Here we go," Celestia muttered. "I think I just need to touch them." She raised a hoof.

Luna batted Celestia's hoof aside with her own. "_I'll_ touch them, thank you."

"Step aside and let _me_ do it," Celestia snarled, shoving her sister.

"They're _mine!_"

Both of them touched the nearest orb at the same time. That orb shattered, as did the other four in the circle. Within the orbs were small gems, floating in midair and spinning rapidly: gems of green, gold, pale blue, violet, and red. The orb in the center didn't shatter, but its stone surface became white and glowed: it was a giant pearl.

The six Elements floated up into the air and began spinning around Celestia and Luna, leaving behind rainbow trails that surrounded the two sisters, leaving them trapped within an orb of flashing light and color.

The orb floated toward Ragnarok and Xanadu, and vanished just above them. Celestia and Luna gently fluttered to the ground alongside the other two, looking around.

The Elements were floating above their heads, the gems orbiting around the pearl.

"Did you see?" Celestia giggled gleefully. "They did it! They bound themselves to me!"

Luna scoffed. "They're obviously bound to _me_, sister. Look at how they float…"

"They're bound to both of you, you childish nincompoops!" Ragnarok snapped. "They're floating above _both_ of you. Now that that's settled, let's just get the hell to Ironbridge and defeat Scraggle already. Can we do that? Thanks."

As they started out of the temple, Xanadu looked to Ragnarok in concern. "Ragnarok, I thought you were looking forward to this."

"I _was_," Ragnarok sneered. "That was before I had to travel with _these_ two. Bickering all the time. They've sucked all the fun and glory out of it. I just want it to be over."

Xanadu gazed up at the Elements, floating above the spot directly between Luna and Celestia. "What _are_ the Elements of Harmony?" she whispered. "Where did they come from?"

"No one knows, Xanadu," Celestia said over her shoulder. "The stories say that Queen Stellaris was the one who found them and hid them—and looking at what was guarding them, I don't doubt it—but according to legend, even she never learned the answer to those questions."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

All eyes were on the four young immortals as they trotted down the black-paved streets of Ironbridge. The inhabitants of this village were earth ponies, and most of them had the filthy, sun-starved appearance of miners.

They peered out of their dusty iron dwellings and muttered to each other, as much at the beauty and glamour of the strangers as at the Elements of Harmony.

"Hehe, look at all this," Celestia giggled. "I've never seen earth ponies before. How cute! They look so vulnerable and childlike without any wings or horns. Aww, and they're all staring. They must think we're goddesses!"

"Yes, except for the ones on this street, who heard you say that, and must think we're idiots," Luna hissed.

"Whatever. We need to find the town square, at the dead center."

They found it promptly, as dreary and dead as the rest of the city, with an ancient fountain that probably hadn't had any water in it for years.

"Here we are," Celestia said, grinning broadly. "Let's stick together. Top of the fountain, come on."

The four of them fluttered to the top of the fountain. Celestia cast a quick spell and cleared her throat.

"_SCRAGGLE!_" she bellowed, in a voice that shook the entire city. "_Hear me, o black ruby wyrm! Your wicked hold over the city of Ironbridge ends today! We are valiant adventurers from Ribbondale, here to destroy you!_"

"What the hell?" Ragnarok demanded.

"You like it?" said Celestia, her voice abruptly back to normal. "Just a little spell I invented. I call it 'The Voice'." She coughed a second time, and resumed the magically amplified shout: "_Come out and face us, if you dare, o Scraggle!_"

"So," Luna said casually, "do you plan to feed me to the dragon directly, or do you have a more subtle plan for making sure I die in this battle?"

"Will you let that go?" Celestia retorted, smacking the back of her head. "We're on as soon as he comes out. He can't turn down a challenge like that."

They waited about half a minute. Suddenly, he rose out of the sinister forest just outside the city: an immense, glittering black dragon.

He swooped over the city on skinny silver wings, circling overhead, doing an entire lap around the city before diving toward the town center.

He landed with a heavy thud that rattled the city, his head down. Unusually for a dragon, he had no hind legs; his hindquarters consisted entirely of a thick tail, lined with spikes and ending in a pair of hooked horns. His claws were curved sickles, and on the back of his head and neck was a silver sail similar to his wings.

Scraggle lifted his head to look at the four ponies. His eyes were red, with slits for pupils. His lips were as jagged and serrated as his teeth, and from the corners of his mouth grew a pair of forward-swept silver horns.

The dragon chuckled in a raspy but thunderous voice, smoke puffing out of his nostrils as he did so. "Shiiiiit, man," he said. "It's been a long-ass fuckin' time since bitches fuckin' dared to challenge my shit. Fuck yeah!"

Xanadu looked a bit pale and queasy. "Oh, _wow_…" she remarked.

"Easy, you'll be fine," Ragnarok whispered soothingly.

Celestia and Luna spread their wings and floated off the fountain, approaching Scraggle, the Elements still floating above them. Scraggle didn't hesitate, unleashing a jet of black fire upon them. Reflexively, both Celestia and Luna erected magical shields, which mixed together into a single arcane wall of swirling silver and gold, matching the auras around their bodies rather than the magic produced by their horns. The fire was extinguished as soon as it touched this joint shield.

Scraggle leaned back, looking impressed. "No fucking kidding? Shit, I guess it's your turn now. Fuckin' dazzle me."

Celestia and Luna nodded; swirling rainbows of energy began flowing from the Elements. Pure white light radiated from the central pearl, as well as from the two sisters' hearts and eyes.

Far more rapidly than it had appeared, the magic vanished. The Elements still hung above their heads, but other than that, it was as if the dramatic display of the magic's energy building up had never happened.

Scraggle grinned. "Shit happens, doesn't it? My fuckin' turn again, ya fat, meaty bitches."

He lunged out with a hand, clasping Celestia and Luna in his fist. They began firing beams of magic at him, but they reflected off of his black, gemlike scales. In his other hand, he snatched Ragnarok and Xanadu, and looked over the four girls with his menacing red-eyed glare.

"All right," Scraggle rasped decisively. "Get the fuck outta my neighborhood. Come back when your shit works and you have an _actual_ chance to fuck me up, you fuckin' fuck-damned plump-assed pieces of shit."

With a length of rope snatched off the heavy saddlebag of one of the natives, he tied the four ponies together. He then spread his wings and launched himself up into the air, scanning the forest outside Ironbridge before tossing the group in the direction of the deep woods.

They sailed through the air in an arc, screaming and struggling, until Celestia managed to free her wings, stabilizing and slowing their fall so that they hit the forest floor, not quite gently, but without any injuries.

Celestia was the first on her hooves, and she quickly confronted her sister.

"I knew they wouldn't work!" she snarled. "Didn't you hear that they were bound to both of us? If it was just me, they would have worked perfectly, but noooo, I have to share the ancient magical artifacts with a weak-willed twerp!"

"Oh, yes, it's my fault," Luna growled in return, standing up. "Nothing could ever _possibly_ be your fault, could it? Well, hear this: you're an empty-headed bimbo with no talent for magic, who's skated by on bullying and intimidation! That's not going to fly, I hope you know, now that you're in the real world. You will not survive!"

"Nice speech, you little rat, how long have you been rehearsing that one?"

"If you had a brain in your head, you'd have left the Elements to me and me alone!"

"ENOUGH!" Ragnarok bellowed.

All eyes turned to her in surprise.

"I've just about had enough of this!" she snarled, shoving Celestia and Luna down onto their rumps. "You idiots! You know why it didn't work? Because they're the Elements of freaking Harmony, that's why! You two aren't exactly embodying their precepts!"

She huffed and pointed a hoof accusingly at the two sisters. "Honesty! Kindness! Loyalty! When's the last time you two showed a _speck_ of any of those things towards each other? Look at that huge pearl floating above your heads, not daring to show favor to one of you or the other, longing to be wielded by _both_ of you. You do know what that pearl represents, don't you?"

"Of course," said Celestia. "Magic."

"Friendship," Ragnarok corrected harshly.

"…I'm pretty sure it's magic," Celestia said condescendingly.

"You know damn well what I mean, Tia," said Ragnarok, suddenly calm. "You two might be sisters, but you sure as hell aren't friends. You never have been. That's why the Elements didn't work. And they won't work until you just kill all this absurd vitriol between you two and start working in harmony."

Celestia and Luna glanced at each other, then turned away just as quickly.

"I'm just… I'm sick of you two," Ragnarok rambled on. "I've had enough. Come on, Xanadu, let's let them sort out their differences in private for a while." She turned away.

Xanadu followed hesitantly. "Um… where are we going?"

"I don't know, we'll forage for food or something." Ragnarok turned back to the two sisters. "You two had better be friends by the time we get back. Not for _my_ sake, do it for the ponies in that town who have spent their lives being controlled by that evil bastard Scraggle."

"I mean, his filthy mouth alone," said Xanadu, shuddering. "Think of the children!"

"They'll never be free if we can't get the Elements to work," Ragnarok stated. "No pressure, though."

Ragnarok and Xanadu disappeared into the depths of the Forest of Feyr.

Still sitting down, Celestia and Luna determinedly looked away from each other, both of them huffing heavily.

Luna glanced at her sister out of the corner of her eye, and slowly began scooting along the ground toward her. In a few moments, they were touching, though still not looking at one another.

"So, are we doing this or not?" Celestia finally said.

"That depends on you, sister," Luna replied curtly. "This isn't going to work unless we make a _real_ breakthrough. No shortcuts or temporary truces here. We need to _actually_ become friends."

Celestia snorted. "That'll be hell's own task."

"Indeed," Luna replied. She was silent for a moment, then said, "I don't hate you."

Celestia finally turned to look at her. "That's… good. I'm glad."

"…You understand, I hope, _why_ I would say I hate you?"

"Yes," Celestia muttered. "I've been bullying and tormenting you all your life. Nothing wrong with a little bit of hate after that. It's just healthy."

Luna turned around, and the two sisters were at last looking into each other's eyes. "Well, that's a good place to start. _Why_ have you done that?"

Celestia blinked slowly. "To push you away, of course," she said, as if it was obvious. "A better question would be, why did you keep coming back?"

"Because you're my sister," Luna said, aghast.

They were silent for a moment, then quickly looked away again.

"It was…" Celestia mumbled. "You know, after Father left… it's not his fault, of course…"

"Yes it is," Luna countered.

"Okay, so it is, but this is really between us, Luna."

"…As you wish."

"What I became… I didn't want you to end up like me," said Celestia.

Luna brightened. "Oh…"

"No," Celestia added hastily, hanging her head in shame. "I meant that I didn't want anypony else to be as popular and impressive as me."

Luna pondered. "You viewed me as a threat."

"Still do. You're practically taking over my adventuring party."

Both sisters chuckled, sitting back to back, looking down at their own hooves in the dirt.

"I _did_ want to be like you," Luna admitted. "Always, I've… looked up to you. Very much."

Celestia turned around again. "You… really? That's… well, that's very surprising. I thought you were the one who had me really figured out."

"Oh, but I did," Luna said, standing up to truly face her sister. "I knew what you were: stone cold. I wanted to be that so very much. And… well, it all worked out. There's a certain toughness about me, that I think can be easily chalked up to—"

"No, no, no, no," Celestia interrupted, also standing. "I know what you're going to say, and no. You're not tough because of the way I pushed you around, that's nonsense. I didn't make you tough. _You_ made you tough. A lesser pony would have cracked under my abuse. Not you. I'm very glad you didn't… because you're a truly incredible filly, you know. I envy you. I wish I had as much heart as you." Golden tears dripped from her eyes and down onto the forest floor. "That's why I… I…"

"Shh," Luna urged, running a hoof through her sister's magically flowing hair. "Look… whatever you did, I never stopped believing in you. I _know_ you're not a bad pony. You're not destined to be bad. You have the resolve of a hero. You and I, we still have a chance at this."

Celestia glanced in the direction of Ironbridge. "To be heroes?"

"To be sisters," Luna corrected gently.

Celestia looked down at her little sister. "You really believe in me?"

"I do. I truly do."

The elder sister bent down to Luna's eye level, her eyes brimming with even more tears. "I love you, little sister. I wonder if I've _ever_ said that to you… I should have said it every day for, oh, I don't even know how long…"

Luna pressed her head against her sister's, their horns crossing, her eyes shut tight. "And I love you. This will always be so."

The Elements of Harmony started humming audibly, sparkling and glowing above the sisters' heads. They gazed up at the gems and pearl, their shining tears still trickling down their faces.

"Do you think…?" Luna muttered.

"I… I certainly hope so," Celestia choked out, her chest still heaving with sobs. The sisters smiled at each other. "Oh, I _do_ look forward to our first act as true sisters being something amazing!"

"I couldn't agree more," said Luna. "Shall we round up the girls? Or just wait for them to come back?"

"No, no, let's get them now," Celestia said excitedly. "I just can't wait to face this enemy with you, little sister!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Celestia, Luna, Ragnarok, and Xanadu marched down the streets of Ironbridge once again. Scraggle awaited them right where they had left him, just outside the town center, his body taking up an entire street, drumming his claws on the street's metal surface.

"Back already?" he rumbled, seeming pleasantly surprised. "Shit. What's it been, fuckin'… half an hour? All right, fuck it, let's fuckin' rumble."

"By the stars," Xanadu squeaked, looking on the verge of passing out.

Ragnarok smacked Celestia on the rump. "My two girls here are gonna wash out your mouth, wyrm."

The rainbow sparkles and white light appeared again, faster and stronger than before, lifting Celestia and Luna clear off the ground. Scraggle had barely a second to go wide-eyed in surprise before a huge rainbow-colored beam shot out of the elements and blasted him in the chest. He flipped into the air and landed upon the fountain in the town square, flattening it.

The magic faded away, and the six Elements clattered to the ground. Luna and Celestia glanced at them briefly before advancing on Scraggle.

"What the fruit just happened?" Scraggle said wearily. "What the fruit… the 'fruit'? Did I just say that?" He blinked rapidly. "Shoot… dang it… NOOOO! COME ON! NO! What the HECK did you wwwwwitches do to me?"

Celestia's horn glowed yellow and she made a slicing motion with her head. A golden line of magic sped across Scraggle's throat, leaving him with a deep cut right across his jugular vein. He went limp and glassy-eyed, clearly dead.

"You killed him?" Luna whispered.

"Of course," said Celestia.

"Well, that hardly seemed necessary…" Luna muttered.

Ragnarok and Xanadu approached, carrying the Elements along in their magic.

"They fell to the ground," said Ragnarok. "Do you think they're burned out or something?"

Luna shook her head. "Oh, I'm sure they'll come back when we need them…"

The ponies of Ironbridge peered out of their homes and began flocking out, to the sight of the four immortals standing beside Scraggle's corpse.

Somepony's hooves began clacking against the metal streets over and over. Others joined in, and soon the applause was deafening, the girls being lost in a sea of admiring earth ponies.

"Oh!" Luna squealed. "Sister, we did it! We're heroes!" She leaned against Celestia, nuzzling her.

Celestia blinked in surprise, then leaned down toward her sister with a smile. "Listen, Luna… bonding with you in the forest like that… that was really great. Made me feel like a little kid again."

"Oh, I know!" Luna agreed eagerly. "And we—"

"Shh," Celestia interrupted. "Yes, it was nice. But come on… we both know that we only did it to activate the Elements. So… you know. You can stop touching me now."

Luna backed away in shock. "No," she whispered. "No! You were faking it? You can't have been! That's impossible! The Elements wouldn't have worked if you hadn't meant it!"

"Well, they worked," Celestia said simply. "And it's all over now. So I'd appreciate it if you fluttered off and stopped soaking up _my_ glory."

Luna fumed. "You fool! It's a lie! I _know_ we made a genuine breakthrough together! You're in some sort of weird denial that I can't even—"

"I really don't care. Go away."

Luna tried to speak again, but no sound would come out of her mouth. Confused and devastated, she took to the air and flew off to the outskirts of the city, silver tears dripping from her face.

She found herself at the bridge that gave Ironbridge its name; a menacing and ominous black iron pathway spanning an immensely wide river. She landed on the riverbank, and walked along until she was underneath the bridge. There in the cold and damp shade, she curled up in the mud and allowed herself to weep freely, her sobs echoing against the metal over her head.


	18. Campus Cuda 2114ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Campus Cuda, 2,114 years ago

The wizened king of the seaponies was curled up in his bed. His royal headdress was set down in the corner of the room, revealing his short and slick black mane. His monstrous daughter floated at his bedside, staring him down with what looked like hate and anger.

Her voice indicated otherwise. "Daddy… you can't… not today. I don't want you to go."

King Nimo slowly turned to her. "Soledad…" he whispered.

Soledad brought a leathery hoof to her glowing eyes, yellow within red within purple. "I can't cry," she commented. "I can't even pretend to… but please, Daddy… don't go."

The king extended his own hoof, and Soledad grabbed it between both of hers.

"I am on my deathbed as we speak," he muttered. "The matter is not open to discussion. The important thing to speak of now is that, within the hour, you will be the queen."

Soledad hung her head. "No… no, Daddy, I don't want to talk about that."

"You listen to me, Soledad," Nimo growled. "You _must_ listen. Many kings and queens can afford to make mistakes, for the kingdom only suffers their repercussions as long as that particular sovereign draws breath… but this is not the case now."

"What are you talking about?" Soledad said nervously.

"Do you truly not know? Soledad… did you think I would not notice? In the past four years, you have not slept, nor eaten. You do _not_ draw breath. Don't you see? You died that day in the Crags of Okeanos. Surely this means that you will _never_ die. Today, the seapony kingdom will have a new queen… and that new queen will remain on the throne _forever_."

Soledad stared, her thoughts impossible to read through her perpetual glare.

"Promise me something, Soledad," Nimo whispered, his voice already beginning to fade. "Promise you will spend every second of eternity trying to become a better queen. No matter how good you get, always strive for still more perfection, more goodness for your people and country."

"I promise," she said quietly. "I will, Daddy."

He nodded. "Now… put on my headdress."

Soledad turned around, then swam over and picked up the elaborate headdress off the floor. She examined it for a moment; the long orange horns, the shorter red teeth, the yellow-gold lining.

When she looked up from the crown, she saw her father leaning against the headboard of his bed, his slanted yellow eyes vacant and glassy. He was dead.

Solemnly, Soledad swam back to his bed and gently nuzzled the dark green fur on her father's lined face. She gently set his head down on his pillow, and pulled his bedcovers up over his face.

She attempted to put on the headdress, but found she couldn't pull it over the prominent, purple armored plates on her skull. She snarled and roared in frustration, ripping the metal crown off of her head and banging it against the wall several times before trying again, pulling with all her strength to get it to fit. Eventually, she managed, and she tentatively pulled her hooves away to see if the headdress would stay on. After a few seconds, she nodded, confident that it would.

She exited her father's room and glanced at the two seapony guards posted outside.

"He's gone," she told them softly. "If you need me, I'll… I'll be around."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Maol Straume rummaged through dented gold coins and goblets in the white coral treasure vault of Campus Cuda's castle.

The spiky-haired golden seapony, now a grown stallion, dropped a few plates and knives into a tiny burlap bag, then held up a miniature golden crown.

"Badass," he commented, popping the tiny trinket atop his head. He turned around, freezing in surprise at the sight of Soledad floating at the entrance to the room.

"Maol," she gasped. "You're… you're stealing from me."

His muddy gray-brown eyes, hidden behind their heavy black lids, surveyed her, noting the headdress she was wearing. "Uh… huh. Has your father died?"

"Just now, yes," she whispered.

"Hmm, my condolences."

"Thank you, are you stealing from me?" she snapped back in a single breath.

"Well… yes," he said, shrugging, adjusting the crown on his head.

"But…" Soledad stammered. "Why? How long have you been doing this?"

"Soledad," Maol Straume said patiently, "look at me and look at you. You can't tell me you _ever_ thought I had anything on my mind besides getting closer to the throne." He jangled his sack.

Soledad gaped. "You're…"

"Come on, why _else_ does somepony bed with the princess?" said Maol flippantly. "Especially one that looks like you."

"Jolly was right," Soledad said in a strained voice. "She was right about you all along. I never should have…"

"Come on," he said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Just accept things the way they are, you and me. 'Cause you gotta know it's never going to get any better for—"

He was dead before he finished his sentence. Soledad had swung her whiplike tail in his direction, and one of the four long spikes at its side had pierced the side of his throat.

She tugged, her tail spike still embedded in his neck, whipping him around. She finally managed to tug her tail away, taking his throat out of his body along with it.

Blood started seeping out of the wound, a cloud of it floating up toward the ceiling. Soledad stared at it, and she began breathing for the first time in years, her breath ragged and eager as she produced a pair of fangs she didn't know she had.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Guard!"

A seapony soldier turned his head, wincing at Soledad's face approaching him rapidly.

"Erm, yes?" he said nervously.

"Could you do me a favor and dispose of Maol's corpse?" She plopped his emaciated body, pale and drained of all blood, into the guard's arms.

"WAUGH!" the guard shrieked.

"Yeah, I know, it's not pretty," she muttered. "He was stealing from the castle vaults… so I dealt with him."

"Of course," the guard said nervously. "I will… find a place to dispose of him…"

"Now, hold on a minute, it's true," Soledad said, stopping him from leaving. "He was stealing from me. He's probably been doing it for years."

"Very well."

"Now, see, I get the feeling you still don't believe me," Soledad snapped. "I swear to you, I'm telling the truth. Please… it's not like this is a secret mission. If anypony asks, just tell them Maol was caught in the act of high treason, I killed him for it, and I asked you to give him a shameful burial. Nothing but the truth. Please believe me."

The guard hung his head. "I do. I apologize."

"It's okay. Just… get it done."

"Yes, Queen Soledad. Right away."

Soledad winced at his use of her new title. "Good. Um… well, when you're done with that, everypony will probably be looking for _me_ too. Tell them I'm hitting the Crags again."

She started swimming away. The soldier gaped. "But, my queen…"

Soledad turned her head, smirking cruelly. "What? You know that used to be my favorite place. I got tired of it after I _died_ there, sure, but come on… I'm not going to die _again_…"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Soledad swam through the twisting caverns, her burning eyes the only light source in this otherworldly place.

"I can't be the queen," she mumbled. "I mean, I _can_, but I _shouldn't_. Every second of eternity, yeah, that'll turn me into a worthy ruler… in about fifty thousand years."

"Well, hey," said several identical voices at once. "I fail to see how that's a problem. What's fifty thousand years when you've got eons to _continue_ being a good ruler?"

Soledad blinked and stared in the direction of the voice. In a circular cave in the cavern wall, an enormous swarm of dark brown isopods sat and stared at her.

"…Huh," she remarked. "Bunch of isopods talking to me?" She sighed. "I had a feeling I'd gone a bit nuts when I drank all the blood from Maol Straume's corpse, but now I know I've lost my mind _completely_…"

"You don't like isopods?" said the creatures. "How do you feel about trilobites?"

They began jumping out of the cave, easily a hundred of them. As they plummeted toward the sea floor, each one transformed into a tiny blue-green trilobite, which all swarmed together and swam over to Soledad, floating and looking her over. She could only gape.

"Helloooooo!" said a sing-song voice. Soledad turned her head and tried to process what she was looking at; a cormorant, floating in the water alongside her. The crags were far too deep and inaccessible for a bird to possibly survive, yet here it was.

The bird's outline blurred and it turned into a large, iridescent blue angelfish, which beamed at Soledad cheerfully before blurring again, changing into a plump pufferfish.

Soledad glanced between the swarm of trilobites and the ever-changing creature. "You're… you're the Old Gods."

"Indyeed," said an ethereal voice. The decayed, pockmarked, and eyeless face of Carto appeared out of the gloom, her four flippers and tail twitching as if searching for something in the water around her.

"Carto," Soledad breathed.

"Yes, my dyear," said Carto, bowing down. "We have been wyaiting for you to ryeturn to thyis place."

"That's right," said Shifter gleefully, now an eel, coiling herself around Soledad's body. "We hope you like the new body we prepped for you!" She transformed into an otter, which stroked Soledad's face with its front paws. "Ever since we saw your blackened skeleton sitting at the bottom of the Crags, we knew our project was a go!"

"_What?_" Soledad exclaimed. "What is happening here, exactly?"

"You were chyosen, Pryincess Syoledyad," Carto said solemnly. "To be fyirst in a new pyantheon of gyoddesses. _We_ gyave you immortyality."

Soledad blinked. "First of all—I don't like this, but I'll have to get used to the premise—it's _Queen_ Soledad."

"Ooooh, yes yes yes," said Shifter. Now a hideous sargassum-covered anglerfish, she clapped her fins together in delight. "And we're so proud of you!"

"Second," Soledad interrupted, glancing at Shifter nervously, "I'm no goddess. You didn't make me immortal, you made me undead."

"Eh, there's not as big a difference as you might think," Hukwurm supplied. "Whether your heart is beating or not, living forever is living forever."

Soledad was silent for a moment. "So… why was I chosen?"

"Oh, this is syomething we've been wyorking on for thyousands and thyousands of years," Carto pondered. "We are approaching our ryetirement. We were nyot sure, though, what syort of cryeatures should ryeplace us." One of her flippers snaked over to Soledad and stroked her face. "Then we fyound you… a pryincess. That is how we would make our myark on the wyorld even after we are gyone—a syovereign of a nyation. Your rule of your kyingdom is our lyegacy."

Soledad gritted her teeth. "I'm made to replace you? Is that it? That's why you turned me into… _this_? Did it ever occur to you to ask whether or not I wanted such a thing?"

"Yes, but you were dead," Hukwurm said dryly.

Soledad felt something sharp poke her in the side. She turned to glare at a great blue marlin, Shifter, which had just jabbed her with its sharp nose. The creature turned into a red striped sailfish, the transformation rather subtle.

"Listen, when you get a couple eons under your belt, you'll be wantin' to retire too," Shifter said, suddenly serious. She changed into a sawfish. "We just wanted to make sure we got something _done_ first… something to keep our spirits alive around here."

"Yeah," Hukwurm agreed. The swarm of trilobites became a much larger swarm of sickly white lobsters, which advanced on Soledad threateningly. "So don't disappoint us," they chorused.

The numerous lobsters that made up Hukwurm disappeared in an immense, fiery pillar of rainbow sparkles. Soledad glanced toward Shifter, but didn't get a good look at what the goddess had turned into this time before she, too, vanished in a similar explosion of color. Soledad turned to Carto nervously.

The dust-covered blind goddess grinned wryly. "The twyins enjoy intyimidation. But do not fyear. You absolutely have the pyower and the pyotential to byecome the thying that your kyingdom nyeeds… and all the tyime in the wyorld."

Soledad shrugged. "I… I appreciate the vote of confidence."

"We would not have chyosen you if we dyid not have cyonfidence," Carto assured her. "The ryetirement of the Old Gyods is not syomething to tyake lightly."

"Retirement…" Soledad muttered. "What does that entail, exactly?"

"Jyust this: we shyall nyever again ryeturn to the wyorld."

"…Huh," Soledad remarked.

"And fear nyot, young Syoledyad: you are the fyirst, but myore gyoddesses shyall ryise up byefore lyong."

Another huge rainbow pillar appeared, and Carto was gone.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Soledad rested on her customary spot on the castle balcony. She produced a parchment, held a fish-bone pen in her teeth, and began to write.

_Dearest Jolly,_

_As you may have heard, my father died today. I am now queen over all the seapony kingdoms. The prospect haunts me._

_I know that you and I have drifted apart and not seen each other for a very long time, but I just wanted to say this: You were right. About Maol, about me, about everything. And I am sorry. I want you back. I need you back. Allow me this attempt to rekindle our friendship. I await your response._

_With love and utmost respect, Soledad_


	19. Tartaros 99946ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Tartaros, 99,946 years ago

Two serpents, one green and one purple, slithered down a circular earthen tunnel. Both were armored and helmed, and carried large, vicious halberds in their claws.

"Stay sharp, rookie," said the purple one, poking his companion with the butt of his weapon. "We've been transferred to the highest-priority prisoners, and that means we've gotta be the toughest and smartest guards in this filthy dungeon."

"Right," said the other, stretching and flexing his arms. "I'm ready. Who exactly are we guarding?"

"You mean you don't even know?" the purple serpent demanded. "How long you been working here?"

The green one shrugged. "What, here in Tartaros? A year or so…"

"I thought it was common knowledge," the purple serpent muttered. "Anyway, we're almost there. I'll _show_ you who we're guarding."

He scratched the wall with his claws in a very specific pattern, and the earth opened wide like a mouth. Through the gloom, the two spotted a long black shape floating near the opposite end of a massive cavern.

"That is Sørmur dï Mitgaeard," the purple serpent whispered to the entranced green one. "This prison has become a great place to just stick folks that we don't like, but when it was first built, it was meant solely for her."

"I… never knew that," the green serpent admitted.

"Of course, the place doesn't really hold her," the purple one continued. "She could escape any time she wants. But she's been sufficiently distracted by books."

"Books?"

"Yeah, books. Mitgaeard gets a copy of every book that's ever been printed. It's the law. She reads constantly—she just can't help herself. She can't resist the urge to find out what's in her next book. If she were to ever run out of books, she'd be outta here and go right back to destroying the world."

The green serpent frowned. "I don't think she's reading…"

"Well, it's kind of hard to see a book from a quarter of a mile away," the purple one said casually.

The other's eyes widened. "She's a quarter of a mile away?"

"Yep. She's that big." He tapped the wall with the butt of his halberd, and the hole in the wall closed.

"Just how big _is_ this monster?" the green serpent whispered.

"Four hundred and… twenty feet?" the purple one suggested. "Something crazy like that? She gets bigger as millennia go by."

The two serpents continued slithering down their tunnel, which had begun travelling uphill at a very steep incline.

"Where are we going now?" the rookie said nervously.

"We're gonna take a look at the _other_ top-security guy," said the purple serpent as their tunnel climbed higher and higher. He tapped out another pattern on the wall, and it opened just as the first one had, revealing the bulky white shape of Accord directly adjacent to the tunnel.

"Whoa!" the green serpent exclaimed, readying his weapon.

"Relax, he's not going anywhere," the other said calmly. "He can't see or hear us, and he definitely can't pass through the wall." To demonstrate, he tapped his halberd against the barrier separating them from Accord, even though it was completely invisible.

The white serpent's blank blue eyes were scanning the pages of a book. He was very still, scarcely even seeming to breathe.

"So who's that?" the green guard said, calm now.

"That right there is Accord," the purple replied. "Sørmur dï Mitgaeard's son… which is the only reason he's in here at all, never mind kept in the same cell as her. He's as immortal as she is, sure, but he's harmless… mindless and soulless, as far as anyone can tell." He looked over the white serpent with something akin to affection. "He enjoys his books… as much as a creature with no feelings can 'enjoy' anything."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Accord was oblivious to the conversation about him taking place just on the other side of his wall. His mother was faintly visible on the opposite side of their impenetrable, quarter-mile-wide prison cell, but he paid her no mind. His lips moved as he scanned the text of the new book he had just received.

The illustration taking up half the page depicted several cheerful creatures, surrounded by flowers and rainbows. Accord glanced at the caption beneath them.

"Ponies," he whispered.

He set one of his stubby fingers on the page and began reading.

"_Ponies are a newly discovered race who rose up some sixty years ago, and quickly became a curious and surprising oddity in our world. The species is notable for the way nature responds to them: where they gather and settle, the local flora, fauna, and weather revert to a helpless state, requiring care and management from the ponies. The creatures themselves are more than eager to help: farming and military, magic and science, these things all come very naturally to this young race._"

Accord stopped at the end of this page, then wondered why he had done so. He scanned the paragraph again, reading it twice more to make sure he had taken in every detail. Still unable to comprehend his thoughts, he shrugged and turned the page.

"_The pony race is defined by their odd affinity with DESTINY__…_" The word had been oddly emphasized by the scribe. "_Ponies use an odd system of names, names which are meant to outline their personal traits and skills. Their names take them on a path through life, at the end of which is a mysterious phenomenon known as the 'cutie mark': a symbol or piece of art which appears on their flanks in adolescence, representing their inner self._

"_Since the dawn of time, individual sentient creatures have wondered who they really are. The pony race has a valuable gift: they always know. They are entirely in touch with the world around them… and their destiny._"

A tear dripped from Accord's eye. He touched it, and examined it, his head tilted quizzically. "Huh," he commented. "What could that mean? Am I feeling… feelings?"

He looked at the cutie mark drawn on the page, a spiral tower. "I've always wondered what feelings are… I've read so much about them, but never understood… what could have caused that? Is it these ponies, their cutie marks?"

He blinked several times.

"That… feeling… caused me pain," he muttered. "But I want it again. I want to _feel_ again." He kept thinking, for a very long period of time. "Is it the shape of a cutie mark? Hrmm, I doubt that. _Destiny_ seems an appropriately weighty topic to induce emotion…" He turned to a pile of books next to him and plucked one out, flipping through it rapidly.

"Destiny," he recited, "is akin to lot or fortune, the inevitable course of events, or the power or agent that determines such. The concept moved me to, I believe, sadness." He looked between the book on ponies and the new one he had produced. "Destiny provokes emotion. Ponies have an affinity for determining their destiny. Ergo, to feel emotion again, I must take command over my destiny, and to do _that_, I must become more like a pony."

Accord paused. "Well, _that_ makes very little sense," he said. "Many leaps and fallacies were taken in that conclusion. Mother would call it unsound logic. And yet… I know it to be true. Perhaps this, too, is a feeling."

He flipped back to the first page, to the drawing of several ponies. "And how _do_ I become more like a pony?" he wondered. "Well… a pony has four legs. Yes, and I only have a pair of arms. A sound beginning…"

Accord looked to his thick, finned tail. "Are physical characteristics a factor in destiny? They must be. A cutie mark is a physical display." He nodded slowly. "I have magic, or so Mother said… it is time to try it now."

He closed his eyes, and sprouted a pair of legs ending in cloven hooves. He stood erect, examining himself.

"Hrmm," he remarked. "This seems rather… ineffective. Where am I going wrong?"

He picked up the second book yet again and began scanning it. "I wonder, I wonder… controlling my own destiny, does this require…" He nodded, having come to a realization. "Creativity," he decided. He snatched another book, a smaller and thinner volume, flipping through it.

"Creativity," he mumbled. "Be spontaneous and color outside the lines… don't be afraid of mistakes… hmm. I don't quite understand the… concept…"

He looked down at the book of ponies. "Spontaneity," he muttered. Decisively, he kicked the book, flipping the pages, coming to a two-page-wide illustration of a flock of dragons.

"_Dragons_…" he hissed. He raised his hands; one of his legs transformed into a green dragon talon, and his tail became long and skinny, with red scales and ending in a white tuft.

Accord broke out in raucous laughter, falling flat on his back and rolling around.

"Oh, I enjoy _this_ feeling very much!" he said through his uncontrollable giggles. Still on his back, he held up his mismatched feet and looked them over. "How… how very eye-opening!" he said eagerly. "A mistake, but a most ideal one. I suddenly understand… Mother's preoccupation with symmetry is highly unnecessary. Mother was… wrong."

He looked impressed with himself. "Mother… was wrong. Who'd have known such a thing was possible?" He stood up, still chuckling. "So, I don't have to be like a pony… there are many options for pursuing destiny… and destiny means I can still have… HANDS!"

Accord threw out his sickly white hands, and they quickly transformed into a lion paw and an eagle talon. The brown feathers on his shoulder began covering his entire torso.

"WHOOOOOO!" Accord declared as his once-stubby body stretched and extended. "And it is many creatures' destiny… to FLY!"

A mismatched pair of blue wings, one feathery and one leathery, sprouted from his back. He dropped onto his hands and knees, heaving and quivering.

"Destiny," he said in a shaky, ragged voice, "must be fought for!"

A goat horn and deer antler sprouted from his head.

"What _is_ this inspiration?" he crowed. "Why is this making me feel so… _good?_"

He scrambled over to the book, flipping away from the dragons and back to ponies.

"So exciting!" he sang. "Okay, give me the head of a pony, head of a pony… these illustrations are terrible, I have no idea what a pony actually looks like… I'll have to take a shot."

His tiny white head became big and gray; he started off looking fairly like a pony, but his face drooped and became elongated as he sprouted a short black mane and thick white eyebrows, a long beard and a single fang.

He lifted his talon and squeezed his fang between a thumb and finger. "Hmm… that's odd," he said. "I don't think _I_ did that… but I love it… I _love_ this…" He squeezed his bright blue eyes shut and raised his arms triumphantly. "BY THE STARS, I'M SO HAPPY! AT LAST, I TRULY FEEEEEEEL! I FEEL EVERYTHIIIIING!"

And he did indeed. Even though his eyes were closed, he could see straight through them, straight to the outside of Tartaros, straight to the stars and planets far beyond the night sky… and every individual atom and quark on those planets… he saw the fabric of reality itself, all its stains and imperfections, and he felt the magical energy in his own body, the power to move worlds and to warp the very nature of the universe…

"Oh, _yeah_," he said passionately, in a new voice that sounded quite unlike the one he'd had since the day of his birth. He slowly opened his eyes, his lids fluttering—his eyes were now two different sizes, and yellow with bright red pupils.

"Now I know why it made me feel so excellent," he mumbled. "I was Accord, a god of pure analysis and organization… but only because that's the way I was born." He examined his arms and chest. "Who'd have thought that accidentally changing one leg but not the other would lead me to find out who I really am? Oh, but I bet those pony creatures have happy accidents like that all the time. I owe this whole thing to _their_ race, and I've never even seen one…"

He continued feeling his face, becoming more joyful with every passing second. "This is why I never had emotions! I was always chaos trapped in order's body." He reached out with his eagle talon and touched the air. Ripples appeared in it, as if he'd touched the glassy surface of a pool of water.

He danced in place. "Yes! This is what I am! Chaos incarnate! Not Accord… _Discord_."

The newly-named Discord started snapping his fingers and staring into the rippling air he had created. He gave the shimmering air stripes, then polka dots. With a snap of his finger, the rippling air became a sheet of pure sugar, which attacked and enveloped him, leaving him mildly surprised and, for some reason, covered in wet leaves.

With another finger-snap, the leaves were gone.

"I can do _anything_," he realized. "Anything I can imagine… and my imagination is _ever_ so much better than it was before." He brightened. "I can do what Mother wanted me to do! I can destroy _everything!_"

He started to run down the sloping cavern toward Mitgaeard, but he suddenly paused. "Wait… I don't want to do that. If I destroyed everything, what would I watch? What would I play with? What would I feel?" He snapped his fingers a few more times, creating flashes of light which _darkened_ the spacious cavern, and bringing swirling comets flying past him which bathed him in orange light even though they were purple.

"This would be fun for a while, but how could I keep having fun with nothingness?" he wondered. "Surely a living universe is more desirable? Well… I _can_ do anything. If I destroyed the universe and realized that I shouldn't have, I could just bring it back. Anything I can make, I can unmake, and vice-versa. Heh, that really takes the pressure off, doesn't it? Oh, but I should be careful… there _might_ be something too intricate for me to understand, something that, if I remade it, wouldn't come back _properly_…"

He shook his head rapidly. "I should really discuss this with Mother. She'll know what to do."

He started across the cell, toward Mitgaeard far on the other side. He stumbled a few times, unused to having legs at all, occasionally throwing out his arms to balance himself but finding that, with their radically different sizes, his arms weren't of much use in that.

He didn't bother to use his powers to close the distance between himself and his mother. He simply felt like walking, allowing himself time to mentally prepare for his first taste of genuine face-to-face interaction with the colossal black serpent who had spawned him.

Her side of the prison cell was at the bottom of a long slope, and Discord slowly edged his way down. All the while, she floated high above him, barely visible in the gloom, a diminutive book held up to one of her eyes by a flipper.

"Mother?" he called up to her. "Mother, look at me."

Sørmur dï Mitgaeard set her book aside and snapped her head toward him with alarming speed. At the sight of him, her eyes widened… then slowly narrowed again as she released a puff of air from her nostrils.

This display of anger and hostility went right over Discord's head. "Look, Mother," he said gleefully, spreading out his arms to present himself. "I'm Discord now!" With a wiggle of his fingers, he conjured up an illusion of a night sky behind himself, full of white stars and multicolored planets, which detached themselves from the illusion and started swirling around him.

"We don't have to confine ourselves to _their_ reality anymore!" he proclaimed. "Reality is whatever _I_ say it is!"

Mitgaeard curled back her lip in a snarl, baring her fangs. He cowered, wringing his hands together. "Things can change for us now, Mother, you see?" he said nervously. "We can leave. We can accomplish things together, like you said."

She pressed her lips together suspiciously.

Discord held up the fist of his lion paw. "For I am now the purest embodiment of chaos!"

He grinned, waiting for her to respond.

For a moment, she seemed unsure of how to react, but after a few seconds she began quivering with rage and revulsion, and finally she opened her mouth impossibly wide and gave a deafening, glass-shattering screech, accompanied by two long tendrils of smoke bursting out of her mouth, obscuring Discord's vision.

Discord could have defended himself if he'd had a split second to react, but Mitgaeard was too fast. Her immense bulk lunged out of the smoke.

"Ohhhhh no," Discord squeaked, paralyzed by fear.

She pinned him between her nose on the ground, and breathed on him. In seconds, he was immobilized in a shiny shell of silver goo, every detail of his horrified face and body clearly outlined.

"Chaosssss?" she spat in his frozen face. "Do you even realize what you have done, my ssssson? I am the earthly vesssssel of order and logic, you fool! Did you think I would _approve_ of thissss? 'Disssssscord'. Bah!"

She lifted her head, and her beady blue eyes began darting around the huge, empty cavern. "How?" she whispered. "How have I let myssself become disssstracted enough to allow my perfect ssssson—my emotionlessssss and thoughtlessss ssssson—to become thisssss? A being of chaosss, as flawed as any other mortal or god?" She threw back her head and keened furiously. "Thisssss… SSSHALL NOT COME TO PASSSSSSSSS!"

A sticky silver filament shot out of her mouth, wrapping around the frozen Discord. She flew straight up, her body breaking right through the roof of her cavern, Discord dangling from the corner of her mouth.

Serpents, gargoyles, and other sorts of armed guards scattered chaotically, some of them rushing forward to fight and others fleeing for their lives as Mitgaeard continued her progress straight up, shattering every floor and ceiling that stood in her way, utterly ignoring all of the attempts to harm her as well as the many easier routes to the surface she could take.

After only a few minutes, she burst out of the ground, into the open air of a rainy, temperate forest. She dragged her entire, ludicrous length out of the ground until her head hovered some five hundred feet above the ground.

She tossed her head, swinging the frozen Discord flawlessly onto her nose, where she made eye contact with him.

"You _can_ ssssee and hear everything around you, I would assssssume, 'Disssscord'," she sneered. "I sssso desssspissse you. I will reforge the world into a beacon of perfection and harmony AND I WILL MAKE YOU WATCH, MY CHAOTIC SSSSSSSON!"

She started flying in a straight line to the north, where the low-hanging sun was directly in her path. She screamed in pain at the sun in her eyes, but didn't bother to change her course.


	20. Whispering Desert 1084ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Whispering Desert, 1,084 years ago

A blue-eyed gray antelope crested a sand dune, her eyes wide open, ignoring the sand blowing in the light wind. Once she reached the top, she turned her head toward the small filly jogging up the mound after her.

"Come now, Lady Kolassa!" Spyder called. "Surely you're not going to make Spyder wait for you, are you?"

Kolassa's baby-blue eyes were stuck in a squint, fighting off the wind and sand, but she quickly made it to the top alongside Spyder.

"Right here," Kolassa muttered, shaking the sand out of her raggedy mane. "We're not almost there, are we? I was hoping to savor the journey a bit more…"

Spyder barked out a laugh. "Nice try. Spyder knows you're only all too eager to get this over with. But the attempt at sounding enlightened is… rather inspiring, Lady Kolassa. Let us continue—we have a few more dunes to go."

They continued through the desert, each laden down with sand-colored sacks of supplies, walking across the top of the dune.

"Spyder?" said Kolassa. "Why do you call me 'Lady' Kolassa?"

"Ah, that's a delightful story," Spyder said eagerly. "You see, old Spyder was once a young slave in a magnificent manor house owned by the noblest family of horses in the Whispering Desert. She was ordered to call all members of the family 'Lord' or 'Lady'… but she didn't. She only gave those titles to those who had earned it. And they _knew_ it, too… everypony knew who in the family could be trusted and who could not, based on who Spyder chose to respect." She laughed. "So you see? It was the slave who held all the power."

Kolassa giggled as well. "That's _great_. Good for you!"

"Yes, thank you," said Spyder, bowing her head. "Spyder soon gained her freedom, but she never did stop attaching 'Lord' or 'Lady' to the names of those she respects."

Kolassa blushed. "Oh… thank you."

"Do not thank Spyder. You earned it, Lady Kolassa. But here we are."

Over the crest of the next dune, they came across a trio of towering sandstone pyramids, weathered by centuries of wind and sand. They sat in a huge dip in the sand dunes, a smooth valley that looked peaceful even in the mild sandstorm they were experiencing.

"Behold, the Whispering Deserts' grand pyramids," Spyder said softly. "Nopony knows who built them, or why… only that they've inspired hundreds of generations by being a reminder of what the mind and body can truly do. And this is where you will be trained."

Kolassa gasped eagerly. "Really? What are we going to do?"

"Well, Spyder can't replicate for you the circumstances of building the pyramid. So instead, we'll be climbing it."

"Ooooh, yay!" Kolassa squealed.

"That's right," said Spyder. "We shall first run a lap around its base. Then, we will climb up to the first layer of stones… and run a lap around _that_. So on until we reach the top. Are you ready, dear student, dear teacher, dear Lady Kolassa?"

"Yes, Spyder. I'm ready."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Hours passed, the sun crossing from one horizon to the other.

"Whew…" Kolassa heaved. "Am I at the top yet?"

"Is there something above you?" Spyder countered, looking down at Kolassa from the top of the pyramid.

"Yes…"

"Well, that should answer your question."

"Right," Kolassa muttered, looking blearily at the five levels she had yet to scale. "Still gotta walk the lap of this one…"

She started around the square ring.

"You look exhausted, Lady Kolassa," Spyder said casually. "Perhaps we shall set your camp right there, where you are? Finish tomorrow?"

Kolassa looked up and glared. "Spyder, if I was going to give up, I'd have done it a lot sooner. Not when I'm only a few minutes away from the top…"

Spyder's eyes twinkled. "Just checking."

A half-hour passed until Kolassa heaved herself to the top of the pyramid and promptly passed out.

Spyder chuckled and dripped some water from her canteen on the filly's muzzle.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Another hour later, Kolassa awakened under the night sky, finding that Spyder had built a fire there atop the pyramid and was cooking something over it.

"Ah, there you are," Spyder said cheerfully. "Would you care for a gyro?"

She offered Kolassa a pita stuffed with tomatoes, onions, and sauce.

"Thanks," Kolassa said weakly, taking it. "Did I make it?"

"You did indeed, your ladyship," said Spyder, bowing. "Here we are at the top."

Kolassa looked out at the desert, sprawling out in every direction.

"Eat up," Spyder ordered. "You'll need your strength if we're to make it to the bottom." She smiled. "This is a very unorthodox thing for a master to say, but Spyder is so very proud of you. You have as disciplined a mind and body as Spyder has ever met."

"Thank you," Kolassa said, bowing down to her. "I knew I would do it… I knew I _had_ to do it. When you said the pyramids have inspired generations… that's when I decided I would conquer them."

She beamed. "The pyramids inspired me, too. I want to be like them. Standing tall and sturdy forever… being an inspiration."

Kolassa's flanks shimmered and sparkled, and a picture appeared on them.

"Why, Lady Kolassa, is that what Spyder thinks it is?" Spyder said gleefully.

"My cutie mark!" Kolassa exclaimed, turning her head. "I can't see it…"

Spyder took a stick from the fire and used it as a torch, holding it close to Kolassa's flank. The cutie mark was the three pyramids, dull and sandy against her pinkish-purple fur.

"Oh, it's magnificent," said Spyder. "Hmm… Spyder hopes your parents won't be angry with her. They would have wanted to be there for their daughter's cutie mark story, Spyder thinks."

"Aw, that's all right, Spyder," Kolassa said, nuzzling her. "My parents know you're important to me, and how much you've been teaching me. When I come home with a cutie mark… they'll be thrilled."

Spyder nodded. "Well, eat your supper, Lady Kolassa. We shall need our strength if we're to get back to the bottom. And try to get some more sleep… Spyder thinks we shall be awake an hour before dawn, if we're to return home in a timely fashion."

"Right!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Kolassa woke up again well into the night. Looming up above her was a single, almond-shaped eye with a violently red iris. Around it floated six other eyes, round and blue. These eyes floated still for a moment, before a thin line in the air below them opened into a hugely grinning mouth of knifelike teeth.

Kolassa sighed and looked away. "If you're here to kill me, just kill me."

The central eye blinked; an odd sight, as its eyelid consisted of nothingness, simply making the eye invisible for a single moment. The toothy mouth frowned. "What?" it said blankly.

Kolassa rolled over. "Didn't know you monsters could talk. But these attacks have just been getting worse and worse… I can't spend the rest of my life like this. If you're never going to leave me alone, fine. I don't know why you're always coming after me, or what you want to do with me, but just… just do it. I'm not going to fight anymore."

The floating face circled her. "Well, that's no kind of talk for a filly who just got her cutie mark," it said. "Your life is just beginning, isn't it?"

"Not if this keeps happening," Kolassa said softly. "I can't fight forever."

"…I'm not here to kill you, Kolassa," the face muttered.

Kolassa flipped herself into a sitting position, scowling at the face.

"My name is Spectatus," it said. "My… supervisor… sent me here to keep an eye on you. He's taken notice of you. A lot of folks from my world have. That's why you're attacked by monsters: you're extra-special, and you get more and more special as you grow older."

Kolassa stood up. "Are… are you saying you _know_ what makes me special? Why these attacks have been happening my entire life, why I have dreams about things I've never seen but turn out to be completely real? Tell me! Tell me what I am!"

Spectatus flinched away. "Ah… no idea? You really don't know?"

Kolassa glared.

"Okay, well, brace yourself," Spectatus said gently. "Your strange powers… the magical energy you give off that attracts monsters to you…"

"Yes?"

"It's because… you're half Old God."

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds, then Kolassa's jaw dropped.

"It happens sometimes," Spectatus went on. "There are creatures in the world with trace amounts of Old God blood… but _half?_ That hasn't happened for millions of years."

"Half… what does that mean?" Kolassa demanded.

"It means one of your _parents_ is an Old God."

"Th-that's impossible!" Kolassa squealed. "I have a mother and a father…"

"Meh, I don't know the details," Spectatus admitted. "Maybe one of them is an Old God in disguise. Maybe they're lying to you about who your _real_ mother or father is. All I know for sure is that you have an Old God for a parent."

"No," she whispered. "No, you're lying…"

"No, Lady Kolassa," Spyder whispered. "It's true."

Kolassa turned her head. Spyder was still lying on her side, but she was awake.

"Spyder has often wondered at the strangeness of your soul," she went on. "Your magnetism, your iron mind, even the way you stand, these have always been clues that you were something beyond the ordinary. This story… it is the only explanation that truly makes sense."

Kolassa bit her lip. "You really believe I'm the child of an Old God?"

"If you can't trust the word of a terrifyingly huge floating mass of eyeballs and teeth, whose word can you trust?" Spyder said, grinning toothily.

Kolassa glanced at Spectatus to see how he would react to that statement. The weird creature simply chuckled.

There was an explosion of pale blue light above their heads, and a tiny creature fell upon them from above. A toy-sized white unicorn tumbled to the ground, his red-and-purple insectlike wings crumpled and tattered.

Fork's spiky silver mane was now exceedingly long, the back long enough to almost touch the ground when he was standing upright and the front covering much of his face.

"Wha…?" Kolassa exclaimed. "Who are you?"

He lifted his head, his pale blue eyes burning with ferocious glee. "Who, me?" he growled. "The name's Fork. I'm a pixie pony." He held up his hoof, displaying his glittering sapphire charm bracelet. "Might wanna look behind you."

Kolassa turned around, to the edge of the top stone of the pyramid. Three scaly maroon claws came up from below, digging into the stone—two of the claws were three-fingered, the other seven-fingered.

The claws heaved the towering, two-headed Old God onto the top. First came the long hooked beak of Kane, then the circular mouth of Boll, followed by their mutilated torso and quill-covered back, and then their legs, one ending in a talon, the other a hoof.

Their long spiked tail quivered and twitched, as their two pairs of eyes, Kane's slanted and white and Boll's round and black, looked around before landing directly on Fork.

"_There_ you are," Kane rasped.

Fork poked Kolassa's ankle. "I led them here," he whispered. "A little gift from me to you. You're welcome." He cackled. "Eeeeehehehehehe! I _love_ meddling!"

He vanished in another burst of blue light, the energy searing Kolassa's legs.

"Ow," she whispered, trying to suppress it as Kane and Boll stalked across the slab of stone.

"Now where'd he go this time?" Kane demanded. "How'd that damn thing find us? How'd he manage to lure us all the way out here…"

Boll's small head leaned forward and turned toward Kolassa, staring at her with apparent fascination. "Hey, Kane," he whispered. "Check it out."

Kane turned as well, and his hideous beak broke into a grin. "Would you look at that? If it isn't Rhea Strait's little filly." They stepped forward, and Kolassa cowered. "How ya doin', kiddo? What brings you to our pyramids?"

"'Our' pyramids?" Kolassa peeped.

"Yeahhhh," Kane drawled slyly. "The local population built these for us, to conceal the labyrinth of hellish volcanic tunnels below…" He snorted and chuckled. "We enslaved their brains out. So, who's here with ya, kiddo?" He glanced at Spectatus. "An observer! Haven't seen one of your kind for a couple of ages." He then swiveled his long neck to look down at Spyder. "And… no one, really. All right."

Spyder scowled and stood up. "Don't touch Lady Kolassa!" she snapped, advancing on the two-headed god.

Kane ran one of his hands down the length of his black, bony crest, then snapped the fingers of his other hand.

Spyder instantly collapsed, curling into a fetal position, sobbing and quivering.

Boll picked up Kolassa in his seven-fingered claw, holding her up to their eye level. Kane gently caressed her hair and face. She didn't react, too terrified to struggle.

"So, your name is Kolassa," said Kane. "Nice to finally become acquainted. I suppose you know who you are? Well, I'll tell ya… the Old Gods have been working on a retirement plan for a couple hundreds of thousands of years now. Part of our retirement is a little project we've taken to calling 'the goddesses': designating new deities to take our place when we depart."

Kane and Boll started pacing in a circle, staring off into space wistfully as Kane continued. "The past millennium has made it pretty clear that Hukwurm, Shifter, and Carto bet on the wrong seapony. And Stellaris' plan… it's a bit odd. I'm not sure if it's going to work out. As our retirement comes closer and closer, Boll and I realized we'd have to be really careful with _our_ replacement. This is our entire legacy, we can't mess that up. That's why our goddess is going to be… our very own daughter."

Both of them grinned down at Kolassa with their sharp teeth.

"No," said Kolassa. "That can't be. I already _have_ a father. His name is Chronus Twister."

"The bald guy?" Boll slurred. "He wishes."

"Yeah, for real," Kane laughed. "Trust us, kiddo, _we're_ your father. Your mother, Rhea? We're… rather fond of her. And she was fond of us for quite some time. You'll know what we mean by that when you're older." He shrugged and set Kolassa down on the stone, but held her in place with his taloned foot. "But you don't have to believe us. Believe whatever you like, but the truth is that you're our heir… you're the one who will take our place. You'll be the one in charge of our domain. Nightmares. Monsters. It'll all be yours… you're gonna _love_ burning things down… hearing the screams…"

He flipped her over on her side. "Oh, look… even your cutie mark is our pyramids. Ha! That seals the deal! You really _are_ going to replace us. You don't even have a choice. It's destiny."

Kane and Boll took a flying leap off the pyramid, jumping far enough to land on the sand at the base of the pyramid. A crevice opened beneath their feet, red light radiating from it. They crossed their three arms over their chest and dropped down into the depths of the crack in the earth, which sealed itself quickly.

Kolassa rushed to Spyder's side. The gemsbok was still shivering and crying.

"Spyder?" Kolassa said tenderly.

"Spyder's mind has been broken, Lady Kolassa," she sobbed. "The power of the Old Gods can defeat any and all things…" She gazed at Kolassa with wonder. "And it's yours."

"You're… you're not broken," Kolassa insisted, ignoring Spyder's final remark. "You're gonna be okay… I know it."

Spectatus floated up to Kolassa. "So, erm… Kolassa. This is a pretty big update, finding out you're supposed to replace Kane and Boll. I think my supervisor would want me to stay and watch. You know… keep an eye on you."

"Fine, whatever," Kolassa muttered, laying down on her side. "Stay as long as you need to."


	21. Campus Cuda 2096ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Campus Cuda, 2,096 years ago

"Hello, Soledad!"

A red seapony mare, with cheerful brown eyes and a body-sized mass of black hair, swept into the white coral dining hall of Campus Cuda's castle.

"Jolly," Soledad exclaimed, her voice cracking with emotion as she swept forward to hug her friend. Her burning, multicolored eyes slammed shut as she squeezed Jolly tightly. "I've missed you. Do you realize it's been ten years? Almost exactly ten years?"

"Aye, it's been a long time, me friend," Jolly said with a tremor.

"I'm sorry we drifted apart… _again_," Soledad sighed as the two parted to get a good look at each other.

"It's all right, Soledad," Jolly said brightly. "It's just part o' bein' friends with Queen Soledad o' Campus Cuda."

Soledad ran a hoof through Jolly's mane. "I don't deserve a good friend like you, Jolly."

"Well, thanks fer invitin' us here either way, yer majesty," said Jolly, bowing down.

Soledad grinned awkwardly, then gazed in astonishment as three identical little fillies swam into the dining hall. They were lavender, with dark blue eyes, and voluminous manes similar to Jolly's, but two different shades of blond.

"Ah, Soledad, I'd like ye ta meet me three little daughters," said Jolly. "This is Siren, Selkie, and Merrow."

They bowed one by one as their names were called.

"Oh, Jolly, they're lovely," Soledad said breathlessly. "And I like the theme naming. Very classy."

Dorado entered next, now a majestic dark blue stallion. His spring green mane was longer and thicker, still lightly spiked. He was holding a covered dish, and a newborn foal was strapped to his chest, blue-green with the same two-colored mane as the triplets, its eyes closed.

"Ah, there's our son, Apkallu," said Jolly. "Continuing the, ah, theme." She winked at Soledad. "And ye remember me husband, Dorado."

"Of course," said Soledad. "Hi, Dorado."

His lip thinned and his yellow eyes bored into her. "Hello, your majesty," he said coldly.

Soledad cowered, slouching and raising her hooves defensively. Since she had lost much of her ability to make facial expressions, she had become accustomed to exaggerating her body language.

"I made mozzarella sticks," Dorado continued in his chilling tones, holding up his covered plate.

"Oh," Soledad said nervously. "Well, uh… thanks. I… I don't really eat, anymore. But I'm sure you and your family can… enjoy that…"

Dorado swam right past her, setting the plate on the table with the rest of the feast Soledad had laid out.

"I… yeah," Soledad muttered.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"So, you've been living in… Zancluse, is that right?" Soledad said, sitting at the head of the table in front of an empty plate.

"Oh, aye, it's actually a pretty sweet little village," said Jolly, nodding.

"What do you do there?" Soledad asked.

"We run this cozy little tavern," Jolly said brightly. "Dorado's the chef, I'm the entertainment."

"Oh, how cute."

"Aye. We're quite lucky. A lot o' other seaponies in our town… not so much. Well, like any other place under the sea, there are quite a few folks who're often lookin' fer food or shelter… or a future."

"Right," Dorado sneered, glaring at Soledad. "Which begs the question… what have _you_ been doing?"

"Dorado, not now…" Jolly urged.

"No, really," Dorado insisted. "We have the right to know what the entire kingdom's been wondering since you rose to the throne. You haven't been seen for over a decade. There's been no news from within the castle. You don't even go out onto your balcony anymore. The common perception is that you don't do anything at all."

Soledad scowled back at him. "I'm well aware of how the kingdom perceives me, thank you. I'm working on it, okay? I'm making progress. I promise you that."

Jolly stared solemnly. "Ye've made promises before, Queen Soledad."

Soledad bit her lip and averted her eyes, glancing at the three little fillies, who were whispering among themselves and giggling, passing each other pieces of food.

"They're _very_ sweet," Soledad whispered to Jolly.

"Aye, they're the joy o' me life," said Jolly. "Them and the baby… we're very blessed."

Soledad looked at the baby, Apkallu, who was resting in a basket at the foot of the table, still asleep.

"Erm… Soledad," Jolly whispered. "Me daughters are… rather nice singers." She nodded to the grand piano in the corner of the hall. "I've written a song for them ta sing ta ye. Would ye like us to play it?"

Soledad brightened. "Oh, that sounds wonderful!"

"It's settled, then," Jolly said gleefully. "Girls!" She clapped her hooves, and the triplets were instantly at attention. "Get yerselves dressed up, lassies. We're gonna do our song fer the queen now."

The girls nodded and picked up a heavy bag that they had set alongside the table, swimming out into the hallway with it.

Dorado leaned toward Jolly. "Please," he whispered frantically. "I'm asking you one last time: Please don't do this."

"Ye can't change me mind, me love," Jolly whispered back. "I swear ta ye, I'm not in any danger, and neither are our girls. Ye've gotta let me take this risk."

She swam to the piano without waiting for Dorado's response. The triplets returned, each in a different outfit; one in a gray tunic with a ruffed neck and an orange sash; one in a blue robe with silver spangles, carrying a staff; and the third in a thick brown tunic of fur, with a horned helmet and carrying a spear.

"Aw, what darling little fillies," Soledad giggled.

"That's right," Jolly called over from the piano. "That's Merrow in the bard costume, she's our lead singer. Selkie is the wizard, she's got the most powerful set o' pipes I've seen in a lifetime. And Siren's the barbarian… she's a bass, if ye believe that."

Soledad tilted her head as she beheld the filly wearing the fur tunic, who nodded darkly.

"Are ye ready, girls?" Jolly called. She started playing a bouncy melody on the piano, and the three girls wordlessly started harmonizing along with it.

Merrow, in the center, swam forward and began to sing:

"_Soledad, she was the best  
__With princess potential beyond the rest  
__When she left the castle, we did not know where she went  
__She met a fiery fate inside a thermal vent._"

Soledad smirked at Jolly, who nodded. Selkie took Merrow's place at the center of the trio, and continued the song in an ethereal croon:

"_You may ask, is this where she met her end?  
__No, she's quite well, and she's still my best friend  
__It breaks my heart  
__Every time we drift apart._"

"_We drift apart_," Merrow echoed.

Soledad shot another sweet smile at Jolly, and was surprised to see that her friend looked fearful and sorrowful.

Siren was now in center stage, and swam slowly toward Soledad as she spoke her verse rhythmically, backed up by her two sister's humming.

"_These days she sits here, all alone.  
__Not doing anything to earn her throne.  
__You say you're the queen, who do you think you're fooling?  
__This kingdom's yet to see you actually ruling._"

And with that, little Siren smacked Soledad in the face. Soledad gasped, but before she could truly react, Selkie pulled Siren away with a powerful howling vocal flourish, and Merrow came in front of both of them, finishing the song:

"_Oh, oh, oh, Soledad  
__Why d'you have to be so bad?  
__What I mean  
__Is you ain't my queen  
__Soledad_…"

The three sisters continued to make subtle moves to defend each other as they bravely finished the song despite their apparent fear, but Soledad was ignoring them completely, glaring over at Jolly, who herself was determinedly looking at the piano keys.

"_So… le… daaaaad_," the triplets finished in a breathtaking three-part harmony.

Soledad lowering her head and started toward Jolly. Dorado rushed to block her path.

"Don't you touch her," he growled.

"Move aside, Dorado," Soledad hissed.

"Never!"

"No, me love, do as she says and move aside," Jolly said solemnly. "She's not gonna hurt me. It's Soledad… she's me friend. Let her come to me."

Soledad swam over Dorado's head and swooped down on Jolly, dragging her out of the dining hall at blinding speed, taking her down the hallway and into her private chambers.

She pulled the door shut with her tail and loomed over Jolly, completely embracing her naturally furious face. "How… could you… do that?" she snarled.

"I know, right?" Jolly said flippantly. "Not a very good song. I kinda put it together at the last minute. I mean, I had ta mispronounce yer name ta make it rhyme with 'bad'. Dreadful…"

"That's not what I meant and you _know_ it!" Soledad snapped. "This is no time for joking, Jolly! I mean… do you have any idea how much you've hurt me? The whole time I've been queen, I've had to deal with eighteen years of the entire kingdom mumbling about how I lurk inside my castle and do nothing. And to find out it's what _you_ think too?"

"Ye want me ta lie?" Jolly said innocently.

"You always said I was a good queen before," Soledad said coldly.

"Well… that's 'cause that's what I thought," said Jolly. "But I know better now. I canna say that anymore."

"Oh, that's delightful, I'm so glad that you've had a huge epiphany about what a sucky queen I am," Soledad grumbled. "And to communicate it with me through your _children_? You couldn't have said it yourself?"

"Ah, the girls," Jolly said dreamily. "Brave lasses, aren't they? Dorado thought ye'd kill them, but they believed in me friendship with ye, and they pulled through, the valiant darlins…"

"JOLLY!" Soledad snapped. "This isn't about your children! This is about you—my only friend—throwing the same accusations at me that the whole world has been throwing at me for a solid half of my life!"

"Weeeeeeeell, maybe the reason ye keep gettin' that accusation IS BECAUSE IT'S TRUE!" Jolly retorted, first pleasantly then escalating into a ferocious bellow.

"Jolly!" Soledad exclaimed.

"Ye know why I changed me mind, friend?" Jolly snarled. "Because I became a mother. Ye're a good enough queen fer _me_. But ye're not good enough fer me children. Ye'd best shape up."

"Or what?"

"Or what?" Jolly repeated. "What, is the health and well-bein' o' yer kingdom not a good enough reason fer ye?"

"I… I…" Soledad stammered.

"Ach," Jolly scoffed, shaking her head angrily. "It's frankly amazin' that I held off sayin' somethin' fer this long. I thought…" She sighed. "I thought I could respect ye as a friend while still disapprovin' of ye as a queen. But… I canna."

"Please, Jolly," Soledad begged. "I'm your friend… being queen doesn't matter."

"IT DOES MATTER!" Jolly exploded. "Ye've got the future of the kingdom in yer hooves, and ye don't even care!"

"You think I don't care about the kingdom?" Soledad demanded.

"What evidence is there that ye _do?_" Jolly said coldly.

Soledad stared. "I… how dare you…" But she had no reasonable response.

Jolly closed her eyes and sighed. "Comin' here was a mistake. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Soledad growled. "Goodbye, Jolly."

"Goodbye, me friend," Jolly said solemnly. She turned and started swimming away.

"Jolly, wait!" Soledad cried out. "Please… don't go. Don't leave me. I can't lose you again. You're my soulmate."

Jolly turned back to her. "And ye're mine," she sobbed. "But I canna bring meself ta respect ye anymore. Ye're gonna have ta earn that back."

"I will," Soledad said quickly. "I'll shape up, I'll become a good queen. I promise."

Jolly rolled her eyes. "Another promise. That's just great, innit? Pfft." She swam away, off in the direction of the dining hall.

Soledad could hear her, despite the distance and the walls. "C'mon, love, we're leavin'."

"We're leaving?" Dorado said softly. "It's gonna be just that easy?"

"Until results start comin' outta this castle, aye. Come along, girls. I'll carry the baby."

Soledad sank to the bottom of her empty bedroom, covering her eyes with her arm, wishing, as she often did, that she was capable of crying.


	22. Ribbondale 1390ya

**LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES**

Ribbondale, 1,390 years ago

Luna walked through the dusky forest outside of Ribbondale, searching for a familiar spot from her childhood. Despite the intervening years, she still had the appearance of being in her teens.

She found what she was looking for: a small treehouse high in the boughs of an enormous tree. She spread her wings, preparing to flutter up to it, but paused when a head peered out of the treehouse door: the pale pink head and magically flowing mane of her elder sister.

"Celestia?" Luna demanded. "What on earth are you doing in my treehouse?"

"_Your_ treehouse?" Celestia said smugly. "I don't see your name on it."

"It's right there on the door frame," Luna countered, fluttering up to Celestia's eye level. "_Lulu and Lara_. We scratched that into the wood when we were eight years old."

"Oh yeah?" Celestia taunted. "Well, what are you going to do about it, _Lulu?_ Are you going to shoot at me with your silver moonbeams? Fine, go right ahead. You'll only damage your rickety little treehouse."

Luna growled. "What are you even _doing_ in there? You're too big to fit properly."

"Mostly, I'm doing it to annoy you," said Celestia. "So, where _is_ Annihilara these days? Must be hard, being twenty-two years old and still a—"

"SILENCE!" Luna bellowed, her eyes glowing silver.

"Girls," said a calm voice.

They both looked down. Gaia stood there, with a shiny luster in her earthy-brown coat. New wrinkles were etched beneath her almond-shaped spring-green eyes, and a streak of white was in her green mane. Behind her was a trail of grass and flowers which had sprouted out of the forest floor when she had walked there.

"Mother!" Luna said delightedly, swooping down upon her for a tight hug. Celestia extricated herself from the treehouse and also floated down to the ground.

Gaia looked from one of her daughters to the other, disdainful and suspicious.

"I'm glad to see that you're both back in Ribbondale," she said calmly, "What I am _not_ glad to see is the pair of you bickering like children."

Luna hung her head. "I'm sorry, Mother."

Gaia shook her head. "You two are the faces of the most celebrated band of adventurers in three generations, and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I thought that meant you two would get along."

Celestia shook her head. "Not at all."

"We haven't actually _used_ the Elements of Harmony in years," Luna muttered. "They don't work, because… you know, we hate each other."

"Doesn't really matter," Celestia said casually. "The _threat_ of using the Elements is just as powerful a force as actually using them." She opened a knapsack she was carrying, producing the six Elements. As was customary, the pearl floated in the center while the five gems orbited around it. The configuration drifted toward Luna. Celestia tried to pull them back with her golden magic, attempting to hold them into place directly above herself, but despite her best efforts they continued to force themselves into the spot directly between her and Luna.

"Yes," Luna said snidely, glaring at the Elements. "And the threat only _works_ when we're together."

Celestia shrugged. "Hey, I'm just glad to give my little sister something to do."

"I'd love to escape from this thankless profession…" Luna began.

"Oh, quit whining, it's your whole life," Celestia teased.

"…But without me," Luna retorted through gritted teeth, "Celestia would have to admit that she's useless—"

"Or Luna would have to rejoin the normal workforce and find out she has no life without me," Celestia mused.

"…And she'd get mauled by the first dumb thug she tried to challenge," Luna finished, snarling.

"Or I'd discover that, in the overall scheme of things, there's not that much difference between adventuring with you and adventuring without you," Celestia sneered.

"Or you'll realize that I've just been letting you _think_ you're actually capable of magic by doing all your casting for you!"

"GIRLS!" Gaia roared. With that fierce proclamation, her eyes glowed green and there was an explosion of pollen and flowers, which first expanded from her horn and then started drifting down to the ground on the wind.

The two of them fell silent.

"My girls… my sweet daughters," Gaia said with regret. "I just can't believe that two grown mares can't settle their differences like… well, like two grown mares. Why hasn't your relationship changed at _all_ since you were children? Have all possible bridges between you two been burned?"

Luna and Celestia glanced at each other, then hung their heads in shame.

"That's quite saddening, my darlings," said Gaia. She flapped her wings and took to the air. "Come back to town with me, won't you? Have dinner with me before you continue on your way? Just promise me you'll… be safe. Try to make sure that the day you might be called upon to actually _use_ the Elements of Harmony never comes."

Gaia flew away, a cloud of airborne pollen trailing from her wings.

Celestia grinned mischievously. "Mother is right, you know. We _are_ the most celebrated band of adventurers the world has ever seen."

"Sister," Luna said calmly, "you must believe that I am being completely sincere when I say I truly no longer give a damn about _your_ corrupt and money-hungry adventuring party."

"It _is_ mine, isn't it?" Celestia said sweetly. "It's true. We're celebrated!" She took to the air and struck a triumphant pose. "We've gotten rid of scores of bad guys who would have ruined the lives of millions! We're the reason others have decided to put a lid on their dreams of being bad guys, for fear of our retribution! We have successfully brought peace to the pony nation!"

Celestia put an arm around Luna's shoulders. "Come on, shorty. Face it: you're just as big of a jerk as I am. You have every right to prance around and brag about what a great hero you are. You hate me for doing it, but you'd hate me a lot less if you gave it a shot yourself and realized how good it feels."

"Fine, fine," Luna grumbled. "Yes, we're miracle workers. We're the force of balance in the universe. We… we, I don't know. We rule the sun and moon."

Celestia cackled… and so did someone else.

"Oh, my dear little girls…" said a deep female voice. "You don't know how good it is to finally hear someone say that. I've been waiting many years to hear a boast like that."

Celestia and Luna cringed and turned around. Towering above them was a massive creature, around four times the height of Celestia. It was a macrauchenia, with silver fur that glowed like starlight, even more powerfully than the golden aura around Celestia and the silver around Luna. Her mane was a blinding white, and she was draped in glittering white lace. She had slanted eyes that were solid orbs of glowing blue.

The towering creature leaned down upon the two sisters, who were frozen in fear, their eyes bulging and their mouths hanging open.

"That's right," the creature said brightly. "It's me, Stellaris, the one who _actually_ controls the sun and the moon. Let's see who our little heathens are this evening…"

She sniffed at them with her long and flexible snout, then took note of the floating Elements. "The Elements of Harmony," she mused. "_Those_ freaky things, whatever they are. You two are their bearers? Well, that's a point on your favor. And… oh my! Take a look at your cutie marks! Why, it's as if it was meant to be. Clearly, you _are_ qualified to handle the sun and the moon, as you claim."

The massive queen of the universe rose to her full height once again. "Celestia. Luna. Prepare yourselves…"

One of her eyes turned white, the other black. From her eyes shot jets of magical energy, the white one piercing Celestia's heart; the black, Luna's.

That magic swirled around them, lifting them off the ground. They cried out in pain and fear. After a few seconds, the two sisters dropped back to the ground. They stared at each other nervously, then up to the mighty goddess with increasing horror.

"Now the responsibility of guiding the day and night falls to you two," Stellaris declared, wandering away. "That's one less thing for _me_ to have to worry about. Celestia, you'll be raising the sun. Luna, you'll bring forth the night. Of course, the world is round, so you won't be doing _exactly_ that. More like… kick-starting the cycle every twelve hours." She turned back around and jabbed Celestia in the chest. "You'll have to start waking up earlier." She stroked Luna's head. "And you, well, you're probably under a bit less pressure, lifestyle-wise. Just make sure you don't forget. And do take care of my stars, won't you?"

She turned her back to them again. "My domains are now _your_ domains. I think you'll find it's an awesome privilege."

Both Celestia and Luna tried to speak, but Stellaris cut them off instantly by raising her hoof.

"I know, I know," she said casually. "'But Queen Stellaris, _she's_ the one who said it!' 'Well, you're the one who _made_ me say it!' I really don't care what your circumstances were, girls. I've waited centuries for someone to make precisely such a claim so I could load my powers off on them… and you two are absolutely perfect for the job. Clearly, your blasphemous jest was ordained by destiny. Boy, is that a load off my mind! Now it's time for me to retire."

She inhaled deeply, peacefully, then turned back to the sisters one last time. "Oh, and, incidentally… As the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, you'll live about four times as long as a normal pony, so you've got some time to think about _this_: you may control the sky, but you're still mortal. When you've both died, the sun and moon will remain stationary in the sky. So, if I were you, I'd start looking into methods for obtaining immortality, or else the end of your lives will mean the end of all life on the entire planet. No pressure, though." She nodded to Luna. "Oh, and night is due right about now, sweetheart. Hop to it."

Stellaris was instantly enveloped in a sky-high pillar of shimmering and pulsing rainbow sparkles. When they faded, all that remained of the queen of the Old Gods was a burn mark on the ground.

Luna suddenly jumped, startled, lighting up her horn and frantically waving her head. In an instant, the twilit sky darkened, the red of the sunset making way for the stars.

Celestia turned to glare at her younger sister. "Look what you've gotten us into _this_ time!"

In response, Luna lifted a hoof and, casually and without even looking, punched Celestia in the jaw.

"AUUGHH!" Celestia roared, clutching her face and spitting out blood and broken pieces of her teeth. She stared in disbelief at Luna, who was furiously following the trail through the forest back to Ribbondale.


End file.
